Priyanka Gandhi speaks to mother of Dalit woman found buried near ex-MLA’s ashram in UP

PTI, Feb 12, 2022, 6:55 PM IST

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday spoke to the mother of a Dalit woman whose decomposed body was recovered in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week and assured her of all help in her fight for justice.

The body of the 22-year-old woman, who had gone missing two months ago, was recovered from a vacant plot near an ashram built by Fateh Bahadur Singh, a minister in the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government, police had said on Friday. The former minister’s son Rajol Singh is the main accused in the case and was arrested earlier.

Priyanka Gandhi spoke to the woman’s mother over phone and told her that the Congress party stood by her in the fight against this injustice. ”I will come soon to meet you and raise your voice and fight for you,” the Congress leader told her.

The body was recovered amid the seven-phase assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

In a tweet, Priyanka Gandhi said, ”What happened in Unnao is not new in Uttar Pradesh. The mother of a Dalit girl did the rounds of offices to find her daughter and finally found her body. The administration did not listen to her.” ”Instead of doing politics on this issue, BJP should answer as to why the administration kept the mother running since January? Who did not listen to the pleas of this daughter’s mother? @ myogiadityanath Sir, stop talking about law and order in your speeches. In your administration, women have to wander from door to door for justice, their voice is not heard when women are persecuted, women are tortured and killed and you indulge in making false claims,” she said, targeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu has constituted a three-member committee which will meet the family members of the woman in Unnao and submit a report.

According to Congress sources, the party’s election campaign committee in-charge P L Punia visited the family on Saturday and supported their demand for action over negligence by the police and proper protection of the relatives of the deceased.

Unnao’s Additional Superintendent of Police Shashi Shekhar Singh had said on Friday, ”We interrogated the accused, Rajol Singh, on remand after which the SOG team recovered the woman’s body on Thursday. The body was buried in the plot near the ashram. We used local intelligence and mobile surveillance to identify the spot where the body was buried.” He said the matter appears to be the fallout of an illicit relationship and an investigation is underway.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had targeted the Samajwadi Party and demanded that the state government immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to ensure justice for the victim’s family.

”Recovery of the body of a Dalit girl in the SP leader’s field in Unnao district is a very sad and serious matter. The family members were already suspecting the SP leader about her abduction and murder. The state government should immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to get justice for the victim’s family,” she tweeted.

Right after the woman went missing on December 8, the mother alleged that her daughter had been kidnapped by the former minister’s son Rajol Singh.

On January 24, the victim’s mother also attempted self-immolation in front of the vehicle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow alleging laxity by the police to find out the whereabouts of her daughter.

Following this, the police had arrested Rajol Singh on the same day. The recovery of the body has confirmed the apprehensions of the mother.

A day after her daughter went missing, the mother had lodged a police complaint of kidnapping against Rajol Singh.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had on Friday said that his party has got nothing to do with the accused who is not associated with it in any way and had questioned the police for delay in taking action.

”Samajwadi Party has nothing to do with the person who is the accused in the case. Police and administration should take strictest of action against him. The person who was associated with the Samajwadi party (the father of the accused ) had died four years ago and his son is not in the party organisation and not even a member of the party,” Akhilesh Yadav had said.