Indian Congress party leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday stated that Indian police had beaten up women and minors during ongoing protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Indian channel NDTVhasreported.
The Congress party’s general secretary made the revelations while talking to reporters after an “unscheduled"visit to Muzaffarnagar, a city in India's Uttar Pradesh.
She had gone to the city to meet families who were victims of Indian police brutality during recent protests.
NDTV said that the leader of India’s main opposition party had visited the homes of those who were injured.
At least 27 people have died in protests in recent weeks and hundreds more have been injured in clashes with police, fuelling public anger.
Nineteen of the deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh, where police have been accused of using disproportionate force against protesters.
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"I will stand with you in this hour of distress," Gandhi told the victims.
Gandhi claimed that “people were beaten up mercilessly and even children and minors were not spared”.
She also alleged that the police had attacked a 22-year-old pregnant woman.
The Congress leader told reporters that she has conveyed “each and every police excess" in a letter sent to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel.
Protests have rocked India since legislation was passed in December that eases the way for religious minorities from three Muslim-majority neighbouring nations to gain Indian citizenship, but not if they are Muslim.
Critics say the law is a precursor to a national register of citizens that many among India's 200 million Muslims fear will leave them stateless. Many poor Indians do not have documents to prove their nationality.