October 1, 2020: After authorities stopped their car enroute, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday, 1 October, began marching towards Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras on foot, to meet the family of the woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped and whose ‘forcible cremation’ in the night by the police provoked widespread outrage.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that he was lathi-charged by the police and manhandled.

“The UP police pushed me, lathi-charged me and threw me to the ground. I want to ask, can only Modi Ji walk in this country? Can only BJP-RSS people freely walk in this country? Can’t a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking,” Rahul Gandhi told the media on Yamuna Expressway.

“Yogi Ji needs to take the responsibility of safety of women. The atrocities against women in UP have to stop. The accussed need to be given the strictest of punishment. Same time last year we were fighting for the Unnao rape victim. Nothing has changed since then,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told the media while walking.

Party sources, cited by news agency IANS, said that permission for the visit had been sought from the Uttar Pradesh government.

However, Hathras district magistrate P Lakshkar said on Thursday that borders of Hathras are sealed and Section 144 has been imposed in the district.

“We have no information about Priyanka Gandhi’s visit. Special Investigation Team (SIT) will meet the victim’s family members today, media will not be allowed,” he was quoted by ANI as saying.