Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have been arrested by the police on Thursday and taken to the police station while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of gang rape victim.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that he was pushed to the ground and lathi-charged, when he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were marching towards Hathras after their convoy was stopped at the highway between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the act of police said, “We were stopped from going to Hathras. When we along with Rahul ji took foot-march then we were stopped repeatedly and were lathicharged. But our will power is strong and the lathis of the high and mighty cannot stop us.”

“I wish these lathis were for the protection of Dalit daughter of Hathras,” she said.

The 19-year-old girl who scummed to her injuries on Tuesday night and whose dead-of-night cremation has sparked nation wide protest. The Gandhis along with other Congress volunteers sat on road after Uttar Pradesh police refused to let them continue to Hathras. Gandhis’ SUV had crossed the border, but their convoy was stopped at Greater Noida, which is about 142 km to Hathras. Rahul Gandhi targeting the Prime Minister said, “Just now police pushed me, lathicharged me and threw me to the ground. I want to ask, can only Modi Ji walk in this country? Can’t a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking,”

The UP administration has put a ban on all  large gathering and has set up barricades at border, ahead of the Congress visit. The district administration in Hathras has imposed Section 144 in the area and has banned the entry of all ‘outsiders’ including media persons, in the Boolgarhi village where the 19-year-old Dalit girl was gang-raped and has died.

The victim had suffered from multiple fracture, paralysis and had difficulties in breathing by a neck injury in the assault. The police have also said that there was a gash in her tongue as she had bitten it when then four assaulters tried to strangle her.

The incident has triggered public anger and the Yogi Adityanath led UP government has come under attack from the opposition over recent crimes against women.