Rahul Gandhi's visit, crackdown, hunger strike threat: Inside a long night at India Gate during protest by Ankita Bhandari's parents

As he was being detained, Ankita’s father gave the Centre 24 hours to cancel Gautam’s appointment. Her mother warned that she would go on a hunger strike.

A police crackdown before dawn at India Gate in Delhi on Thursday brought a sit-in protest by the parents of Ankita Bhandari, who was murdered in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district in September 2022, to an end after they were briefly detained.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had joined the protest the previous evening, along with several party leaders and workers. The protest opposed the appointment of former Uttarakhand BJP in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the Governor of Sikkim.

Notably, the parents have demanded that Gautam’s appointment be put on hold until the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged VIP angle in the case is completed.

After Gandhi left, Congress leaders and workers continued the protest, raising slogans. Police moved in before dawn, briefly detained Ankita’s parents and removed the party workers from the site.

Rahul Gandhi arrived with his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other Congress leaders to express support for Ankita’s parents.

Gandhi’s visit marked his return to the streets of Delhi, albeit for a different cause. On Monday, he led a large march from the Constitution Club to the Supreme Court to file a fresh petition against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

After a 90-minute meeting with the family, the LoP wrote on X, “For four years, Ankita Bhandari’s family has not received justice, but a ‘VIP’ accused has certainly been rewarded with protection and a constitutional position…I and the Congress Party stand with them - in their grief as well as in this fight for justice”.

Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, along with other party members, also joined the sit-in. The protest was held near the junction of the India Gate roundabout and Kartavya Path.

After Gandhi left, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, Uday Bhanu Chib, Mumtaz Patel and other senior party leaders joined the protesters.

Police personnel were deployed in large numbers as Congress workers continued their sit-in alongside Ankita’s parents, visuals shared by news agencies PTI and ANI showed.

Before dawn, police detained her parents. They were later released.

A video shared by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), the party’s youth wing, showed protesters raising slogans and waving the national flag as security personnel removed them from the site.

The Congress accused the police of manhandling protesters who had gathered to demand justice in the murder case. The police action took place hours after Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi met Ankita’s parents at the protest site.

Visuals showed police personnel, accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, approaching the protesters in the dark and taking them away.

Ultimatum, hunger strike warning from Bhandari’s parents

As he was being detained, Ankita’s father gave the Centre 24 hours to cancel Gautam’s appointment. Her mother warned that she would go on a hunger strike.

"We give a 24-hour ultimatum to the government for the cancellation of Dushyant's appointment. Nationwide protests will be launched if the government does not accept our demand," Ankita's father told reporters.

Her mother said, “We want to state that we will remain steadfast until his (Dushyant Gautam) appointment is revoked... If we are not permitted to sit here, we will sit on a hunger strike in our own homes.”

Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate, Pawan Khera and Kazi Nizamuddin slammed the police action. They alleged that the authorities were targeting those seeking justice for Ankita Bhandari and opposing Gautam’s proposed appointment.

Shrinate, who was present at the protest site, said, “What kind of action is this? A heartless act against helpless parents who have been seeking justice for four years. Instead of granting them justice, the main accused is being appointed as a Governor, and on top of that, these parents are being treated with such cruelty.”

Congress MP Pawan Khera alleged that the police action showed that democratic freedoms were being eroded.

“This is brutality. You can see democracy coming to an end at India Gate. It is ending at 4 am,” he said.

Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh, was murdered on September 18, 2022. Her body was found in the Chilla canal four days later.