Unnao rape case: Priyanka Gandhi says UP women want to know if 'influential' people will be held accountable for actions

New Delhi: Amid uproar over the accident case of the Unnao rape survivor, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said the question on the minds of all women and girls in Uttar Pradesh is whether voices against an “influential” person, who has done wrong, will be heard. Her remarks come after a student in Barabanki on Wednesday asked a senior police officer if she would face the same fate as the Unnao rape survivor, who was recently injured in an accident. In a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi said, “‘If some influential person does anything wrong then will our voices against him be heard’. This is the question posed to the Uttar Pradesh government by a girl student from Barabanki at a girls’ awareness rally”. [caption id=“attachment_6557951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. PTI[/caption] “This question is on the minds of all girls and women in Uttar Pradesh. BJP must answer,” she said. On Wednesday, a senior police officer in Barabanki faced uneasy moments when the girl student asked him if she would face the same fate as the Unnao rape survivor. Additional Superintendent of Police (North) RS Gautam was speaking at a ‘Balika Suraksha Jaagruktaa Abhiyaan’, a safety awareness campaign for girls, at Anand Bhawan school. Gautam said the girls should remain alert, and if they feel anything wrong is being done to them, they should immediately call up the toll-free number. At this, the girl stood up and asked a pointed question," If the person against whom we are complaining comes to know about it, and if we meet an accident, what will happen?" “Will I get justice on registering a protest because in Unnao an MLA had outraged the modesty of a girl, and when she was fighting the legal battle, she met an accident. She is now battling for her life,” the girl further asked. The question puzzled the officer and he cryptically said, “All complainants to toll-free number would be provided help.” Asserting that the Congress will strongly fight for justice to the Unnao rape survivor, Priyanka Gandhi had on Wednesday said the harassment of the young woman’s entire family was not possible without protection from those in power. She also said the “strands are now coming apart” with a police cover-up and names of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders coming to the fore. The Unnao rape case and the harassment of the entire family of the rape survivor would not have been possible without protection from those in power, she said in a tweet in Hindi with the hashtag — “Unnao ki beti” (the daughter of Unnao). “The Congress is committed to justice. We will fight this strongly,” the party general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh had said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and 10 others on the charge of murder in the accident case of the Unnao rape survivor. Sengar, a four-time MLA, represents the Bangermau constituency in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He has since been suspended by the BJP. The survivor has accused the lawmaker of raping her at his residence in 2017, when she was a minor. The rape case against Sengar was filed after the woman tried to immolate herself outside Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence in Lucknow in April last year. On Sunday, her car was hit by a truck when she was going to meet her uncle Mahesh Singh in a Rae Bareli jail. Two of her relatives were killed in the accident, while the rape survivor and her lawyer are undergoing treatment at a Lucknow hospital, where their condition is stated to be critical. The woman’s family has alleged that the road accident was a result of a conspiracy. The CBI has taken over the probe in the case.