The Mayawati government on Thursday ordered a Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department inquiry into Bhatta Parsaul incidents including of firing and rape during the farmers's agitation on land acquisition issue in Greater Noida.
Congress leader and Union minister Sachin Pilot was on Sunday arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police while he was on his way to violence-hit Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida district to meet families of farmers injured in the recent agitation on land acquisition.
The district administration on Wednesday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the Bhatta Parsaul firing incident on May 7. Additional District Magistrate Surindera Ram will conduct the inquiry and submit the report within a fortnight.
A team of National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday visited the Bhatta Parsaul village, which had witnessed farmers' agitation on land acquisition, and talked to villagers to investigate alleged violation of human rights.
The Congress general secretary made Bhatta Parsaul, which saw widespread protests over land acquisition two months back, the first stop of his 'Kisan Sandesh Yatra' when he came calling in a car at 6 am drumming up support for the planned kisan mahapanchayat in Aligarh on Saturday
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued an arrest warrant against the senior superintendent of police of Gautam Buddha Nagar district for his "failure" to act in the alleged Bhatta-Parsaul rape cases.
Even as Congress General Secretary and the party's in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Tuesday sought to describe Rahul Gandhi's 'kisan sandesh yatra', which he launched from Bhatta Parsaul early on Tuesday morning as "completely apolitical", both the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bhartiya Janata Party sought to term it as a "political gimmick."
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the alleged excesses and violence unleashed by the Uttar Pradesh government on farmers protesting against "forcible" acquisition of land at Bhatta Parsaul.
Government on Thursday cast doubts on the veracity of the National Human Rights Commission report which ruled out rape in Bhatta-Parsaul during the recent farmers' agitation, saying one report cannot negate all the charges.
Stopping short of alleging rapes in Bhatta Parsaul village in Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh in May, the government on Thursday said an inquiry panel has found that women were not only molested and stripped but the police personnel did "even more than that."
A Uttar Pradesh court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging a lower court order directing the Greater Noida police to file a case against 15 policemen and a commandant for allegedly raping a woman during the crackdown on farmers opposing land acquisition in Bhatta-Parsaul villages.
Taking serious note of the allegations about atrocities on farmers in Bhatta Parsaul village in greater Noida, the Allahabad High Court on Friday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government, seeking a reply within the next 30 days.
Taking serious note of repeated defiance of orders to make himself present before the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, its chairman P L Punia has issued arrest warrants against a senior superintendent of police of Gautam Buddha Nagar. He has been asked to ensure his presence on October 25, the next date of hearing in the case of seven Bhatta-Parsaul women alleging rape.
The Allahabad high court on Friday declined to order a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the Bhatta Parsaul land agitation case in which four persons were killed in gun battle between villagers and police.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's allegation of police brutalities in Bhatta and Parsaul villages during the recent farmers' protest has been proven right as seven women have claimed that they were raped by men in uniform, a Union Minister said on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh take back the cases filed against agitating farmers of Bhatta Parsaul near Greater Noida a year ago and release those who are still in jail in the case.
The Congress has kicked off the Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign against state Chief Minister Mayawati with the party signaling in no uncertain terms that Rahul Gandhi would be at the centre stage of the fight for UP, a battle which is set to last for the next one year as Hindi heartland's biggest state becomes the battleground.
Stung by the frontal attack launched by the top Congress leadership against her, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has hit out at both Congress President Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday announced a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured and Rs 10,000 for people who suffered minor injuries during violence at Bhatta Parsaul villages in Greater Noida recently.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and Muktar Abbas Naqvi were on Thursday arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police while they were holding a dharna at Ambedkar Maidan in Gaziabad district. The BJP leaders had accused UP CM Mayawati of unleashing a 'reign of terror' on the farmers of Bhatta Parsaul in Noida. Singh said, "Mayawati has lost her moral right to continue as chief minister and she should resign."
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on late on Wednesday night launched a counter offensive against opposition parties accusing them of provoking the farmers of Bhatta Parsaul into violence and charged the Centre with doing nothing to bring a new law for land acquisition.
The Congress vice president accused the Akalis of trying to set the film 'Udta Punjab', which highlights the drugs problem in the state, banned and said they are not ready to admit the truth as they are "benefiting" from drugs and lawlessness.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday accused the Congress and other opposition parties of attempting to disturb law and order by spreading rumours on land acquisition and dubbed Rahul Gandhi's dharna in Greater Noida as "mean theatrics". She said the clashes in Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida had nothing to do with the issue of land compensation.
Gandhi will miss the party's march against the land bill in UP.
Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday dismissed as baseless Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's allegations about burning of people and rape of women in Bhatta Parsaul, rocked by farmers' agitation on land acquisition issue, and said preliminary forensic reports of ashes collected from the area have ruled out presence of any human remains.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has strongly refuted All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh's sweeping allegations about massacre of farmers by the Uttar Pradesh police in Greater Noida's BhattaParsaul village, where a violent clash had ensued between cops and protesting local farmers earlier this month.
In an effort to keep the land acquisition issue alive, the Congress on Monday announced that it will celebrate party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's birthday as farmers' rights day across the country.
This follows a seven-day sustained campaign by farmers against the acquisition of 121 hectares of land in Katesar village in the district, about 325 km from Lucknow for building 'New Kashi' city as a parallel to Varanasi.
The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to challenge Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to prove his allegations about women being raped and 74 people being burnt alive in Bhatta Parsaul village of Greater Noida. To refute Rahul's charges, he raised several vital questions -- "How is it that not one villager talked about killings and rape until Rahul Gandhi surfaced in Bhatta Parsaul? After all, so many journalists have visited the area days before Rahul did."
Sharat Pradhan narrates how Rahul Gandhi's act of defiance by not signing a personal bond for his release on Thursday morning flummoxed the Uttar Pradesh administration
After agitations by farmers of Bhatta Parsaul and Katesar in Uttar Pradesh, farmers of Sathwa, Sarnath and other villages are up in arms, threatening to commit mass suicide if their land is acquired.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's disguised entry to the troubled spot in Greater Noida, where local farmers are on a warpath against 'inadequate compensation' for their acquired land, has put the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh on the back-foot.
The strong police force deployed at the Bhatta Parsaul village, which witnessed violent clashes between the police and farmers, apparently failed to notice the Congress General Secretary when he reached the Delhi suburb in a mobike at around 4 am.
Attacking the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday sought a chance for the party to rule Uttar Pradesh, promising to change the state in the next ten years when people from outside will flock there for jobs.
Hundreds of Congress workers on Monday clashed with the police during a protest against the BJP government's Land Acquisition Bill, saying it was anti-farmer.
Backing Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's allegations about police atrocities on Greater Noida villagers, the National Commission for Women on Saturday recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe "as soon as possible" into the incidents.
'They spent thousands of crores to destroy my image and now people think it is harmful to me'
The rally, organised by Kisan Uday Abhiyan, led by Manveer Teotia, included farmers from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Aligarh and Meerut.
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was back in action on Saturday after he met farmers over land bill in Delhi, a day before the party's big kisan rally.