Congress protest over IIT-BHU sexual assault case turns violent

Uttar Pradesh Congress workers were prevented by police from holding a protest in Varanasi outside the Prime Minister’s constituency office

Uttar Pradesh Congress workers were prevented by police on January 2 from holding a protest in Varanasi outside the Prime Minister’s constituency office.

The protest was to draw attention to the alleged involvement of BJP IT cell office-bearers in a case of molestation on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-BHU campus. The Congress workers were demanding an apology from the PM, who also happens to be the local MP. The workers were stopped by the district police from reaching the office in Bhelupur locality. This led to a clash between Congress workers and policemen.

On Tuesday afternoon Congress workers reached Gurudham intersection with former Varanasi Lok Sabha member Rajesh Mishra, Congress city unit chief Raghvendra Chaubey and district unit president Rajeshwar Singh Patel leading a group of party workers towards the PM’s constituency office resulting in clashes with the local police. The Varanasi administration placed barricades at five places to prevent Congress leaders from reaching the office. The Congress leaders sat on the road near the office and began to sing ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. “The protest in Varanasi near the constituency office of the Prime Minister, was led by district Congress chief Rajeshwar Singh Patel and city unit president Raghvendra Chaubey. Former MP Rajesh Mishra and many other senior leaders were present. The police used all its might to stop us from reaching the mini-PMO. But we will not remain silent, the PM must issue an apology to the daughters of Varanasi and the nation for the criminal actions of BJP workers who sexually assaulted a woman in his constituency,” said Anil Yadav, General Secretary of U.P. Congress.

“We gave representations to the local administration, demanding withdrawal of cases registered against students, who organised a protest at the BHU campus in support of the victim. We also demand withdrawal of the defamation case against our state head Ajay Rai, apart from an apology from the PM and a high-level probe to determine who were part of the conspiracy to protect the accused for roughly two months,” said city Congress unit chief, Raghvendra Choubey. While in Lakhimpur Kheri, U.P. Congress president Ajay Rai had sought to know from the state government, when they were planning to bulldoze the homes of the three BJP office bearers.

The Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday arrested three men for allegedly disrobing the IIT-BHU student, taking photos of her and making a video on the night of November 1, inside the campus. The opposition alleged arrested accused Kunal Pandey, the convenor of BJP’s IT cell in Varanasi, its working committee member Abhishek Chauhan and co-convenor Saksham Patel were sent to the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha election campaign to protect them from arrest.