Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday reached the residence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to seek details of the women who had approached him during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and claimed they were sexually assaulted.
According to police, the congress leader had remarked in Srinagar during the Bharat Jodo Yatra that “women are still being sexually assaulted.”
“When I was walking, you might have seen several women crying. They were emotional after meeting me. There were several women among them who told me that they have been raped, they have been molested, and their relatives have molested them. And when I told them, sister, should I tell the police, they used to tell me Rahul Ji…do not tell the police. We want you to know this but don’t tell the police. We would get into more trouble. So this is our country’s reality, ” Gandhi said at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar on January 30.
Special CP (Law and Order) Sagar Preet Hooda, while speaking to TNIE, said this is a very serious matter and the police tried contacting Gandhi on March 15 but they were not successful.
The next day on March 16, the Delhi Police sent a questionnaire and asked Rahul Gandhi to give details about those women who approached him regarding sexual assault so that security could be provided for those victims. “Today also I have come here to seek information from the Honourable Member of Parliament. His staff has been communicated about the matter,” Hooda said.
When asked why the Delhi Police is intervening in the matter as Rahul Gandhi had made comments in Srinagar, Hooda replied, “The Bharat Jodo Yatra had passed from Delhi and Mr Gandhi also stays in Delhi. If there is any victim, who could also be a resident of Delhi, we want to provide help as early as possible. And even if the victim is of outside Delhi, we could immediately initiate legal action.”
The senior police officer said that Mr Gandhi’s remarks were widely circulated on social media from where the Delhi Police took cognizance. “We even checked that during Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Delhi leg if there was any woman who was crying or had approached the Congres leader but we did not find anything in our preliminary enquiry,” he said.
Hooda further said that soon after completing the preliminary enquiry the police tried to contact the Congress leader but he was not in the country. “As soon as he returned we requested him to provide us with information so that there is no further harassment of the victims. It happens several times if the victim does not get proper counselling, the victim may get even further harassed,” the official said.
Notably, on March 16, the Congress party had sharply reacted to the notice and alleged that it was the ruling party’s latest salvo to weaken democracy, women’s empowerment, freedom of expression, and the role of the opposition.
“A govt rattled by Shri Rahul Gandhi’s questions on PM Modi & Adani’s relationship hides behind its police. 45 days after Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed, Delhi Police has, via a notice, sought details of women who met him & spoke about harassment & violence they may have faced. We will respond to the notice in due course in accordance with the law,” the grand-old party had said.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday reached the residence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to seek details of the women who had approached him during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and claimed they were sexually assaulted.
According to police, the congress leader had remarked in Srinagar during the Bharat Jodo Yatra that “women are still being sexually assaulted.”
“When I was walking, you might have seen several women crying. They were emotional after meeting me. There were several women among them who told me that they have been raped, they have been molested, and their relatives have molested them. And when I told them, sister, should I tell the police, they used to tell me Rahul Ji…do not tell the police. We want you to know this but don’t tell the police. We would get into more trouble. So this is our country’s reality, ” Gandhi said at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar on January 30.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Special CP (Law and Order) Sagar Preet Hooda, while speaking to TNIE, said this is a very serious matter and the police tried contacting Gandhi on March 15 but they were not successful.
The next day on March 16, the Delhi Police sent a questionnaire and asked Rahul Gandhi to give details about those women who approached him regarding sexual assault so that security could be provided for those victims. “Today also I have come here to seek information from the Honourable Member of Parliament. His staff has been communicated about the matter,” Hooda said.
When asked why the Delhi Police is intervening in the matter as Rahul Gandhi had made comments in Srinagar, Hooda replied, “The Bharat Jodo Yatra had passed from Delhi and Mr Gandhi also stays in Delhi. If there is any victim, who could also be a resident of Delhi, we want to provide help as early as possible. And even if the victim is of outside Delhi, we could immediately initiate legal action.”
The senior police officer said that Mr Gandhi’s remarks were widely circulated on social media from where the Delhi Police took cognizance. “We even checked that during Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Delhi leg if there was any woman who was crying or had approached the Congres leader but we did not find anything in our preliminary enquiry,” he said.
Hooda further said that soon after completing the preliminary enquiry the police tried to contact the Congress leader but he was not in the country. “As soon as he returned we requested him to provide us with information so that there is no further harassment of the victims. It happens several times if the victim does not get proper counselling, the victim may get even further harassed,” the official said.
Notably, on March 16, the Congress party had sharply reacted to the notice and alleged that it was the ruling party’s latest salvo to weaken democracy, women’s empowerment, freedom of expression, and the role of the opposition.
“A govt rattled by Shri Rahul Gandhi’s questions on PM Modi & Adani’s relationship hides behind its police. 45 days after Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed, Delhi Police has, via a notice, sought details of women who met him & spoke about harassment & violence they may have faced. We will respond to the notice in due course in accordance with the law,” the grand-old party had said.
