Amazing character of dramatics: UP minister on Derek O’Brien, roughed up by police

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation, led by Derek O’Brien, was roughed up by the police while rying to enter the village of the 19-year-old Hathras gang-rape victim who died earlier this week.

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Friday said Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien ‘is an amazing character of dramatics,’ adding that he has finally ‘found a place in Hathras to exhibit his skills.’

TMC MP Derek O’Brien in Hathras (ANI)

Singh’s remarks came after a TMC panel led by O’Brien, as well as the MP himself, was roughed up by the police while trying to enter the village of the 19-year-old Hathras gang-rape victim who died on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after being sexually assaulted and tortured by four men from her village.

“The entire issue is being politicised and people are simply touring Hathras. Mr Derek is one of my good friends. He is an amazing character of dramatics and has finally found a place in Hathras to exhibit his skills,” Singh told news agency ANI.

The TMC delegation, which was stopped from entering the village, also had the party’s women Lok Sabha MPs, Kakoli Ghosh-Dastidar and Pratima Mondal, as well as former lawmaker Mamata Thakur.

The female lawmakers have further accused male constables of touching them, a charge which the Hathras district administration has refuted.

“The allegations are totally false. Women constables requested them to go back as no one is allowed to enter the village. When they tied to enter forcibly, women constables stopped them,” Hathras Sadar SDM Prem Prakash Meena said.

This latest controversy comes barely 24 hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, too, was caught on camera being manhandled by the police while trying to march from Greater Noida to Hathras to meet the victim’s kin.