Cops Had To Wait For 3 Hours To Give Notice To Rahul Gandhi: Sources

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made Delhi Police wait for hours when they went to hand over a notice to the Wayand MP seeking information on the sexual harassment victims that he mentioned in his speech during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir this January.

''On March 15, a team of Delhi Police team waited for three hours to give notice to Rahul Gandhi on his statement made in Srinagar regarding an alleged sexual assault with women. Even after waiting for three hours, Rahul Gandhi did not meet the police team," sources told ANI.

"Senior officers of the Delhi Police again visited his residence on March 16 to give notice to him which was personally received by him after one-and-a-half hours," they added.

On Wednesday, Delhi Police issued a notice to the Congress leader asking him to share details about the victims of sexual harassment whom he mentioned in his speech in January this year in Srinagar during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Delhi Police took cognizance of the social media posts and sent a questionnaire.

Referring to his experiences during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and to the problems faced by women, Mr Gandhi had spoken of a girl coming to him and talking about the atrocities faced by her.

"In one particular case, I asked a girl, she had been raped, I asked her should we call the police, she said that don't call the police then I will be shamed," Mr Gandhi had said, according to police.

Congress attacked the government and said it was rattled by Gandhi's questions on the Adani-Hindenburg row.

"A government rattled by Rahul Gandhi's questions on PM Modi and Adani's relationship hides behind its police. Forty five days after Bharat Jodo Yatra was completed, Delhi Police has, via a notice, sought details of women who met him and spoke about harassment and violence they may have faced," Congress said in a tweet.

The party said that it will respond to the notice in due course in accordance with the law.

"This notice is yet another proof of a govt in panic and their latest salvo to weaken democracy, women empowerment, freedom of expression and the role of the opposition. Images are self-explanatory," it said.

Congress and several other opposition parties have been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the Hindenburg-Adani issue. The BJP has upped the ante against Mr Gandhi and Congress for his remarks on Indian democracy in the UK and sought an apology.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)