Nagina MP and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) chief Chandra Shekhar Azad was taken into custody from the Prayagraj airport on his arrival on Sunday afternoon and taken to the Circuit House where he was kept under “house arrest” for a few hours before being allowed to proceed to Varanasi.
Azad had planned to go to Kaushambi to meet the alleged rape victim of Lonhada village. He had also intended to visit Karchana to meet the family of a youth who was burnt to death recently.
According to DCP (city), Prayagraj, Abhishek Bharti, Azad was taken to Varanasi by road at around 8.30pm on Sunday from where he would fly to Delhi.
Earlier, when Azad was stopped from going to Kaushambi and Karchana in Prayagraj, his supporters created a ruckus, pelted stones and damaged police vehicles at Karchana’s Bhadevra Bazaar besides staging a protest in Kaushambi. Over a dozen people were reportedly injured in the violence.
Azad arrived at Prayagraj airport at 3 pm but the police stopped him from going to Kaushambi, citing law and order concerns and took him into custody and then went straight to the circuit house.
At the circuit house, Azad, along with hundreds of his supporters, staged a sit-in. Later, he was taken to a room from which he emerged at 4pm.
Addressing his supporters, he said either the administration should bring the victim’s family to the circuit house by 4.30 pm or he would proceed to meet them (victim’s kin).
When Azad and his supporters started proceeding for Kaushambi around 4.30pm, all the gates of circuit house were locked and the convoy was stopped, prompting the supporters to shout slogans. Half-an- hour later, Azad got down from his vehicle and sat in the lawn with his supporters, insisting on being allowed to go to Kaushambi and Karchana.
Azad told journalists that the police had assured him he would be able to meet the victim’s families.
Being an MP, he did not want to create a law and order situation, he said, adding that he wanted to go alone to meet the victim’s families, but the police did not let him. Describing Prayagraj as the land of justice, Azad said people come here with their grievances but here he was being stopped from meeting the victim families.
The MP also spoke to the mother of the alleged rape victim over the phone. She appealed to him to visit the village and ensure justice to her daughter.