The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the Bharatiya Janata Party accused him of being involved in “physical assault and incitement” during a scuffle in Parliament earlier in the day, PTI reported.
The police, however, have not as yet acted on a complaint by the Opposition party alleging that BJP MPs manhandled Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress and BJP MPs accused each other of manhandling on Thursday after they engaged in a scuffle in the Parliament complex. The Congress protested against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s alleged insult to BR Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, while the BJP held a counter-protest, alleging that it was the Congress that had insulted Ambedkar.
The BJP alleged that its MPs Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput fell on the ground and sustained injuries after Gandhi pushed them. The BJP’s Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi, who was accompanied by fellow parliamentarians Anurag Thakur and Bansuri Swaraj, filed a complaint with the police.
The police filed a case against Gandhi under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to voluntarily causing grievous hurt, use of criminal force and criminal intimidation, The Indian Express reported.
In response, the Congress said that the case against Gandhi was a “diversionary tactic” by the BJP in response to the protest against the Union home minister.
On Thursday, BJP MP from Nagaland Phangnon Konyak also accused Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, of misbehaving with her. She said that she “really felt uncomfortable” when he came in “very close proximity” to her.
The Congress, however, denied the allegation and claimed that Konyak tried to block Gandhi from entering Parliament.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging that he injured his knees after being pushed by BJP MPs.
Later in the day Kharge, while addressing a press conference said: “They stopped us at the entrance and did this to show their muscle power.
“They forcefully attacked us… and pushed me. Now they are accusing us that we pushed them,” he added before announcing a nationwide protest against the BJP.
Gandhi also alleged that the BJP was trying to distract people from Shah’s “anti-Ambedkar” remarks. He claimed that closed-circuit television footage from Parliament would reveal what really happened during the scuffle.
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