Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: FIR against Priyanka Gandhi, Deepender Hooda and 9 others after Congress’ ‘illegal arrest’ charge

An FIR has been registered against 11 people, including Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi, Deepender Hooda and Ajay Kumar Lallu for allegedly disturbing peace in wake of the violent protests that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri two days ago, the police said today. The Congress leaders, along with others, have been charged under various sections of the IPC.

Gandhi was detained in Sitapur on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri where eight people were killed on Sunday. While four of the dead in Sunday’s incident were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the others included BJP workers and their driver who were allegedly lynched.

Besides Priyanka Gandhi, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, national secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, party MLC Deepak Singh are also under detention.

The FIR comes after Priyanka, along with several other Congress leaders, alleged that her detention was illegal and she was not being allowed to meet her lawyers.

On Tuesday, she shared a video on Twitter purportedly showing a group of protesting farmers being mowed down by an SUV. “@narendramodi ji your government has detained me for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR. Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Later in a video message, Priyanka questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lucknow visit to celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of independence, and not visiting the violence-hit district.

“Modi ji, you are coming to Lucknow to celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of independence, but have you seen this video. This video shows how the son of a minister in your government has mowed down farmers. Please see this video and tell the country why this minister has not yet been dismissed and this boy not yet arrested,” she said.

While four of the dead in Sunday’s incident were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the others were BJP workers and their driver who were allegedly lynched. On Monday, police registered a murder case against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, and several others over the death of the farmers.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the country’s Constitution was in danger. Humanity is also in danger if people do not get disturbed by seeing the video, he said. “If a Minister’s son mows down agitating farmers under his car, then the country’s Constitution is in danger. If he not taken into custody even after the appearance of this video, then the country’s Constitution is in danger. If a woman leader is kept in custody for 30 hours without an FIR, then the country’s constitution is in danger,” he said in a Facebook post.