New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that Delhi Police is refusing to register an FIR on the “assault” of student protesters by security personnel, and asserted that police can break bones but not a ‘satyagraha’.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also stressed that “brutality by Home Minister Amit Shah’s Delhi Police” will not go unchecked and the Congress will pursue every legal route against the officers responsible.
Gandhi made the remarks in a post accompanying the video of his recent interaction with some students, including those from the Congress’ students wing NSUI, who were injured during recent protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR process.
The Congress leader had met them at the 10, Janpath residence of Sonia Gandhi here on Wednesday.
“Delhi Police is refusing to register an FIR on the assault of our students. Two young women, Athira from Kerala and Ritu from Rajasthan, along with many others, were beaten by Delhi Police. I have spoken to Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Rajasthan PCC President Govind Singh Dotasra. A Zero FIR has already been registered in Kerala,” Gandhi said in his post on X.
“We will pursue every legal route against the officers responsible, in Kerala, in Rajasthan and in the courts. Brutality by Amit Shah’s Delhi Police will not go unchecked,” he said.
In 1930, at Dharasana, Sarojini Naidu led unarmed satyagrahis into police lathis, he said. “Not one of them raised a hand. The world watched.”
“Police can break bones. They cannot break a satyagraha. India’s youth, especially young women, are fearless, determined and united. They are standing up for our democracy, and I stand with them,” Gandhi said.
In the video, Gandhi listens to the students and then calls up Chennithala and Dotasra, asking them to file an FIR against the policewoman who indulged in brutalities according to the students.
Gandhi says the idea is to set an example so that others think twice before committing such illegal acts.
After meeting the students on Wednesday, Gandhi had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come in the way of protesting students as they are the voice of the country.
He had assured the students that action would be taken against all — from the prime minister to the police constable — who acted against students during the recent protests.
Some of the protesting students also gave an account of the “inhuman” treatment meted out to them by police personnel during their detention and how they were beaten up by the cops.
The students claimed that they received several injuries as the police personnel hit them even in their private parts and abused them often in their bid to “teach us a lesson” for participating in the protests.
A large number of protesters were picked up by police and taken to detention centres far away from the city during the recent spate of agitations by student bodies as well as opposition parties against Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
On Monday, the raging protests over the “vote theft” charge reached the Supreme Court’s doorstep.
Opposition stalwarts, joined by activists and civil society members, undertook a “March for Democracy” on a heavily barricaded route and filed a joint petition against SIR and alleged poll irregularities in a major show of strength in the national capital.
Gandhi also hosted INDIA bloc leaders on Tuesday for tea at his home.
After the meeting, the opposition bloc vowed to continue the resistance and take the fight on “vote chori” to its logical conclusion.
