Security at India Gate was beefed up as hundreds of protesters began gathering at Jantar Mantar demanding justice for the 19-year-old Dalit gang-rape victim from Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.

The victim died on Tuesday after being raped by four upper caste men on September 14. She breathed her last in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on September 30 and her remains were cremated without her family’s consent in the early hours of the next day by Uttar Pradesh.

Initially, supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party were supposed to assemble at India Gate but changed the venue to Jantar Mantar after Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code was invoked in the India Gate area prohibiting any mass gathering.

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad tweeted that the assembly will take place at Jantar Mantar owing to the imposition of Section 144 around the India Gate. He said, like a dictator, the police have closed down the entire India Gate. Azad said the Bhim Army will not let the demand for justice be weakened. Modiji will have to answer, said Azad, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Politburo member Brinda Karat, and CPI leader D Raja took part in the protest. The UP government has no right to stay in power. Our demand is that justice should be served, Yechury said.

The silence of the central government and the top leadership of the BJP on such a heinous crime and the UP government’s response thereafter speak volumes about the authoritarian and anti-democratic face, behaviour, history and ideology of the ruling party, he said

Read Also: A day after Rahul, Priyanka, Trinamool MPs turned away from visiting Hathras victim’s family

Yesterday, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had attempted to walk to Hathras after UP Police blocked their vehicle. But they were not allowed to do so and set back. Similarly, a Trinamool Congress delegation of MPs was turned back on Friday.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Congress and its youth wing members for setting a tractor on fire at India Gate, New Delhi during their protest yesterday against the new farm laws. The PM said opposition parties are insulting farmers and misleading them over the new farm laws. He said farm equipment, like tractors, which are worshipped by farmers, but the opposition was going about setting fire to such equipment and insulting farmers.

PM Modi said the Opposition parties are protesting just for their own benefit as they don’t care about farmers’ welfare.

Speaking on the new farmers’ laws during the launch of six mega projects in Uttarakhand, the PM said the new farm laws will strengthen farmers of the country and there are no negative aspects. Through the new farm laws, farmers can sell their crops and produce to anyone, anywhere they want without any middlemen. The PM attacked the opposition saying that those against the bill don’t want farmers to sell their produce in an open market and want middlemen to earn profits.

Assuring farmers, PM Modi said the minimum support price will continue to be there but farmers will also have the right to sell their produce anywhere.

Without naming the Congress directly, PM Modi accused the opposition of trying to mislead the farmers and said the opposition party has shamed the country with its drama.

Meanwhile, some farmers’ organisations protested against the passage of the new laws by blocking the Amritsar-Delhi railway track even as the government has insisted that they will make them self-reliant. They say the new laws could lead to an end of the minimum support price regime for their produce.

Read Also: Amnesty shuts India ops, accuses Centre of witch-hunt

President Ram Nath Kovind signed three contentious farm bills into law on Sunday even after many Opposition parties urged him not to sign them, saying they were passed unconstitutionally in complete disregard of parliamentary norms.

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A tractor was set afire near India Gate in New Delhi on Monday by a group of men protesting against the controversial farm laws, which have triggered protests across the country. Police immediately removed the tractor while the fire services put out the blaze.

Police detained 5 people involved in setting the tractor on fire at Rajpath and all of them are Youth Congress workers from Punjab. Meanwhile, the Punjab Youth Congress livestreamed the video of the tractor being set on fire.

Locals told police that the group was also chanting slogans before setting fire to the vehicle. Police said that an FIR has been registered and an investigation is underway. According to police there were 15 to 20 persons gathered at the India Gate around 7:15 am and set the old tractor on fire, the protesters had also raised pro-Congress slogans. 

In the series of farmer protests, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will hold a dharna today in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

Farmers, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, have been staging a dharna on the Delhi-Amritsar rail track in Punjab since last Wednesday.

Read Also: Congress Working Committee adopts resolution relating to student agitation, CAA

On Sunday, President Ramnath Kovind gave his assent to the three contentious farm bills passed by both House of Parliament, that triggered farmers’ protests across the country, especially in Punjab and Haryana. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, are the three new farm laws. 

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Image highlights from around the world

A STEP AT A TIME: Members of the 18th Street Gang inside a cell during the launch of the Yo Cambio (I Change) programme at the San Francisco Gotera Jail, El Salvador, Reuters/UNI

SWEET ASPIRATIONS: Chocolates in the shape of Oscar statuettes during a preview of the food and decor for the 89th Academy Awards’ Governors Ball at the Ray Dolby ballroom in Los Angeles, Reuters/UNI

MAGNIFICENT MACHINES: Visitors watch the aerial display during the fourth day of Aero India 2017 at Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, UNI

FRAMED: Foreign ministers pose for a family photo during the G-20 FMs’ meet in Bonn, Reuters/UNI

JUMBO TRICKS: A tusker takes part in a rehearsal before the opening of the elephant festival which, organisers say, aims to raise awareness about the pachyderms, in Sayaboury province, Laos, Reuters/UNI

STIRRING THE POT: A kalasa puja being performed at the Sabarimala temple, UNI

TALES OF THE MEDAL: Ondrej Moravec of Czech Republic, Lowell Bailey of the US and Martin Fourcade of France pose with their medals after winning the men’s 20 km individual race in IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, Reuters/UNI

COGITATIONS: Minister of state for minority affairs and parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi meets Ayatollah Araki, secretary general of World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thoughts, and Iranian ambassador Gholamreja Ansari in New Delhi, UNI

VINTAGE BEAUTY: A classical dancer poses beside a car on display before the 21 Gun Salute International Vintage Car Rally and Concourse Show 2017, at India Gate in New Delhi, UNI

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