Priyanka Gandhi alleges manhandling by Uttar Pradesh cops

A complaint has been filed in the National Human Rights Commission or NHRC over the alleged manhandling of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by Uttar Pradesh police in Lucknow.

The Congress leader accused Lucknow police personnel of grabbing her neck and pushing her to the ground while trying to prevent her from visiting the house of a retired IPS officer who has been arrested for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act on Saturday, reports NDTV.

She claimed that police personnel stopped her cavalcade while she was heading to the house of 76-year-old SR Darapuri, forcing her to hitch a ride on a party worker's scooter. Upon being stopped again at another intersection two kilometres away, she decided to cover the rest of the way to Darapuri's residence at Sector 18, Indiranagar, on foot. 

"The UP police stopped me while I was going to meet Darapuriji's family. They grabbed me by the neck and manhandled me. They then surrounded me while I was going on a party worker's two-wheeler, after which I walked to reach there," news agency ANI quoted Priyanka Gandhi as saying.

A video of the incident shows the Congress leader walking along with supporters and members of her security detail when she is suddenly waylaid by a policewoman. A brief scuffle follows before she is allowed to proceed.  

The Congress leader said the police had no reason to stop her in this manner. "They stopped me in the middle of the road! The BJP government is working in a cowardly manner. I am the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Congress and the government is not going to decide where will I go in the state," she said.

The Uttar Pradesh police denied charges of "manhandling" the Congress leader, claiming that they only stopped her cavalcade because it had strayed from the planned route. "Archana Singh, the policewoman in question, has termed reports that she grabbed Priyanka Gandhi's neck and pushed her to the ground as completely untrue. She says that she was only trying to fulfil her duty to the best of her abilities," said Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani.