SP MP breaks down during presser about Dalit woman's death in Ayodhya, Yogi calls it 'theatrics'

Ayodhya: Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad broke down before reporters while speaking about the alleged murder of a 22-year-old Dalit woman whose body was found in a canal in Ayodhya on Saturday.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, reacting to Prasad's presser, said the Faizabad MP was engaging in "theatrics" on the issue. Speaking at a poll rally, Adityanath said that some "criminal from the Samajwadi Party" will surely be found involved in the Ayodhya incident.

The family members have alleged rape and murder, claiming the woman's eyes were gouged out, her bones broken, and her body bore deep wounds and fractures.

Faizabad MP Prasad went to the victim's home to meet the grieving family.

Later, at a press conference, the SP leader broke down and said, "I failed to save her." "Let me go to Delhi, to Lok Sabha. I will raise this matter before (PM) Modi. If we don't get justice, I will resign," Prasad said as his colleagues tried to console him.

The senior Samajwadi Party leader, invoking Lord Ram and Goddess Sita, questioned how such a heinous crime could take place in Ayodhya, Lord Rama's birthplace.

"What will history say? How did this happen to the girl?" he asked, his voice trembling. His supporters assured him that he had been elected to "fight for justice".

The victim had been missing since Thursday night when she went out allegedly to attend Bhagwat Katha.

The young woman had gone missing on Thursday night, triggering a desperate search by her family. On Saturday morning, her brother-in-law discovered her body lying in a small canal, just 500 metres from their village, according to police.

Her hands and legs were tied with ropes, her body bore deep cuts, and one of her legs was fractured, according to family members.

Speaking to PTI, Ayodhya police Circle Officer Ashutosh Tiwari said a missing person complaint was filed on Friday after the family reported her disappearance.

"We have detained two persons from the deceased's village and are interrogating them," Tiwari said. "We have not yet received the post-mortem report. Once we get it, we will take further action."

Reacting to the incident, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati posted, "The body of a daughter of a Dalit family was found in an unclothed state in Sahnawan, Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh. Both her eyes were gouged out and she was also subjected to inhuman treatment." "This is a very sad and serious matter. The government should take strict steps so that such an incident does not recur," she said on 'X' in Hindi.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lashed out at the BJP for the incident, demanding strict action against the culprits and police officers over alleged "inaction".

In a post on X, Rahul said, "If the administration had paid heed to the cry for help of the girl's family that had been echoing for three days, perhaps her life could have been saved."

"Another daughter's life has ended due to this heinous crime. For how long and how many families will have to cry and suffer like this? The anti-Bahujan BJP rule, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is resulting in rising the heinous atrocities, injustices and murders of Dalits," Gandhi said.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also posted on the incident. "The kind of barbarism that was done to a Dalit girl who had gone to listen to Bhagwat Katha in Ayodhya will send chills down the spine of any human being. Such cruel incidents shame the entire humanity..." "In BJP's Jungle Raj, no one is there to listen to the cries of Dalits, tribals, backward and poor. The UP government has become synonymous with atrocities on Dalits.

"I demand that strict action be taken against the culprits who committed the atrocities as well as the responsible policemen and officers," Priyanka said.

CM Adityanath also brought up the issue during a poll rally on Sunday in the Milkipur assembly segment of Ayodhya where a bypoll is due on February 5.

"An incident happened with a daughter in Ayodhya on Sunday. Their (SP) MP is engaging in theatrics on the issue," Adityanath said on Prasad's presser in which he cried.

"The law will of course take its own course but mark my words, when the investigation proceeds, the involvement of some criminal from the Samajwadi Party will surely surface," he added.