UP govt lets BJP leaders & minister meet victim's family

New Delhi: While the UP government had allowed BJP’s Hathras MP and a UP Cabinet minister to visit the victim’s family, it stopped Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi from going to Hathras to meet the family of the victim. BJP leaders, led by the local MLA, also met the family of another murdered rape victim in Balrampur on Thursday, triggering allegations from UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lalu that only opposition leaders were being stopped in UP from visiting victims’ families.

On Wednesday, BJP MP from Hathras, Rajvir Diler, and UP’s panchayati raj minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, who also happens to be BJP’s district incharge, had met the family of the Hathras victim to assure them of action against the four accused. However, the Hathras District Magistrate on Thursday decided to ban entry of all political party leaders to the district citing law and order issues triggered by wide-scale protests by locals in Hathras against the mid-night cremation of the victim.

“The entry of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in Hathras would have further inflamed tensions and it is clear that they were only coming here for political gains. Further, there is Covid-19 protocol in place and the state is on alert after the Babri verdict on Wednesday,” a senior UP government official said. SP leaders as well as media persons were also not allowed to enter Hathras on Thursday, triggering allegations of a cover-up. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati were conspicuous by their absence.