The Delhi Police has filed at least three FIRs against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra following a confrontation between Opposition MPs and police during Wednesday’s protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
A senior police officer said the cases relate to allegations of assault on on-duty police personnel. According to ANI, the two leaders have been booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita concerning assault on police personnel, obstruction of government work, pushing and manhandling, and misbehaviour with police officers.
The FIRs were registered after two consecutive days of protests by INDIA bloc MPs seeking Kumar’s resignation. Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and several other Opposition MPs were detained for the second time on Wednesday.
The confrontation took place after the MPs travelled towards Jantar Mantar to stage a protest. The group had gathered following a lunch hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at Sagar Ratna in Connaught Place. Their buses were stopped by the police before they could reach the designated protest site.
The MPs then got off the bus and attempted to begin a dharna. The situation escalated near Windsor Place as the Opposition leaders tried to proceed towards the Election Commission headquarters.
During the standoff, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lay on the road holding a copy of the Constitution, with several MPs and party workers around her. Rahul Gandhi stood nearby as police personnel attempted to remove her from the spot. “This is my sister,” the LoP was heard telling the police.
The latest cases came a day after the Delhi Police registered another FIR against Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders over their alleged unauthorised entry into Akashvani Bhawan during Tuesday’s protest.
On Tuesday, Opposition MPs had marched from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters. The police stopped the march on Parliament Street, following which several leaders were briefly detained.
After their release, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises, located near the Election Commission headquarters, and staged a sit-in. They remained there for several hours before being detained again.
This comes in between the protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner ( CEC) Gyanesh Kumar after an Indian Express investigation reported that the two other Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had repeatedly objected to decisions connected with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
