Chinmayanand case: UP Congress leaders detained, admin tries to foil protest

Shahjahanpur: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada was on Monday placed under house arrest, while party MLA Ajay Kumar Lallu was detained ahead of a planned 'padyatra' to show solidarity and seek justice for the Shahjahanpur victim.

The Padayatra was planned to be conducted from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow on Monday in order to ensure that justice is delivered to the woman who has accused former Union minister Chinmayanand of raping her and was later arrested in an extortion case.

In an audio message, Prasad said: "Congress today wanted to hold a march to highlight the plight of the Shahjahanpur rape victim but the local administration is not allowing it. Tell me how is this not a violation of law? It's unfortunate."

Lallu, who was picked up from his hotel room, said that the police action was proof of the lack of democracy in the Yogi Adityanath regime.

"We were simply taking out a 'padyatra' and not disturbing peace and law and order in any manner," he said.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday,the deputy leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Aradhana Mishra, said, "The BJP government is helping Swami Chinmayanand in every possible way. It has slapped extortion charges on the woman and arrested her, so as to weaken the case against Chinmayanand. In order to ensure delivery of justice to the woman, the Congress will take out a 180-kilometre-long march from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow on Monday."

The Congress demands that the hearing of the rape case against Chinmayanand be taken up in a fast-track court," she said, adding that the priority of the opposition party was to ensure that justice was delivered to the woman.

"This fight will be fought by the party from the streets to the state Assembly. The fight for justice will commence from Shahjahanpur on September 30," Mishra said.