Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday condemned the behaviour of Uttar Pradesh police and the administration towards party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, saying the Yogi Adityanath government was trying to ”suppress the voice of opposition”. The two leaders were detained by UP police in Greater Noida on Thursday, when they insisted on marching to Hathras to meet the family of a Dalit gang-rape victim, whose death followed by a hurried cremation triggered nationwide outrage.

”Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the entire administration have left no stone unturned to suppress the voice of the opposition. The treatment given to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi yesterday was indecent. It is condemnable. Rights of humanity, constitution and law were torn apart,” Pilot told reporters on Friday.

”There is an outrage in the entire country today that the Uttar Pradesh government is trying to save the perpetrators of this disgusting crime,” he said. The 19-year-old woman succumbed to the severe injuries she suffered when she was allegedly assaulted by four upper-caste men later arrested — in the fields at her village in Hathras district on September 14. She was cremated in Hathras in the dead of the night with family members saying they were not allowed to bring the body home one last time. But police claimed they had the family’s consent for the cremation.

Pilot alleged that evidence in the case was being destroyed. ”… those who commit heinous acts like rape, in any corner of the country, should get death penalty. But for the first time, the police, administration and the government deliberately tried to erase the evidence and the district collector tried to threaten the family of the victim,” the Congress leader claimed.