Priyanka Gandhi Being Kept Illegally, Says Former Supreme Court Judge

Justice Madan Lokur; pic courtesy: The Leaflet

New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge Justice (retired) Madan Lokur said “Priyanka Gandhi is being kept illegally” and slammed the detention of political leaders in Uttar Pradesh. Justice Lokur went on to call the Congress leader’s arrest without any order as “unconstitutional”.

“She has been arrested and kept her in a rest house. When you arrest a person that person either has to be kept in police custody in police station or in jail. Now, the rest house has to be declared a jail or a sub-jail which hasn’t been done. So, therefore, she has been kept in a place illegally,” the judge said.

According to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, she was “illegally” put under arrest in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur on Monday as she was on her way to Lakhimpur where eight people were killed, among which four were farmers, on Sunday.

The former justice described the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, where farmers were allegedly run over by a car driven by a Union Minister’s son as “horrific”. According to him, there should be a detailed enquiry into the incident.

“It’s a simple case of murder… And the first thing you do in the case of a murder is to arrest the accused. So, steps should be taken now. 48 hours is a long, long time,” said Justice Lokur.

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