The issue of a Dalit girl’s murder in Meerut and subsequent protest, mostly of the community members, led to a full scale war of words with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati on Friday (July 10) urged Dalits and other marginalised sections to fight injustice through constitutional means and refrain from taking to the streets, asserting that political empowerment through the ballot remains the key to securing their rights.
Ms. Mayawati, without naming any political party, hit out at the Congress and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Aazad, alleging that certain organisations and political parties, driven by narrow political interests, first instigate violence and later their leaders visit the affected areas to shed crocodile tears.
“Certain organisations and political parties, driven by narrow political interests, mislead and provoke members of oppressed communities into launching protests. Such organisations first instigate violence, disturbances and road blockades, and later their leaders visit the affected areas to shed crocodile tears and derive political mileage from the incidents,” said Ms. Mayawati, in a press statement.
Mr. Aazad, the Nagina Lok Sabha MP hit back at the BSP chief and said, “we come to shed crocodile tears, you also come and shed crocodile tears, who is stopping you? They are saying that for justice go to the court, go to the Supreme Court. It will take 10 years to get justice, till then the honour of our sisters and daughters kept getting looted and we remained silent,” he said, on the outskirts of Meerut.
In the matter of Lalita Gautam, a final-year BA student, aged 20, went missing on May 15 after leaving home to appear for an examination.
Days later, her body was recovered from a sugarcane field in the Rohta area of Meerut district. Police arrested the victim’s alleged boyfriend, Ankush, in connection with the murder. He was later released on bail. Dalit groups and the victim’s family, alleging involvement of more accused in the case, protested outside the Collectorate on July 8 and 9, demanding a renewed investigation.
This demonstration escalated into confrontations between the protesters and law enforcement. The police used a lathi charge to break up the gathering and took seven individuals into custody and filed cases against approximately 50 unidentified persons for unlawful assembly and attacking police personnel, among other charges, in connection with the protest.
On July 10, the police placed several Congress leaders who were part of the Congress fact-finding committee that was formed to meet the victim’s family. Former Congress Meerut district president Avnish Kajla, former MLA Gajraj Singh, Zahid Ansari and city Congress chief Ranjan Sharma were placed under house arrest. “The police brutality reached its zenith under the BJP government.
First, the police attempted to save accused people and now when a Congress fact-finding team attempted to meet the family, they were put under house arrest. Such action signals that marginalized communities are being treated as second-class citizens by the BJP. But, we Congress workers will not allow the BJP to harm neglected groups, the Congress will fight for their issues at every possible platform within the democratic structure,” told Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai, to The Hindu.
Published - July 11, 2026 12:08 pm IST