19 hrs later, Priyanka Gandhi refuses to fill bail bond, remains adamant on meeting Sonbhadra victims

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is still in police detention on Saturday as she refused to fill bail bond of Rs 50,000 even after spending 19 hours in a guest house of the Chunar Fort in Mirzapur. Priyanka was brought here after being stopped from going to Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh to meet family members of victims killed in clashes over a land dispute.

Priyanka has been insisting on meeting the families of the victims of Sonbhadra firing incident stressing that she was ready to go to jail for it.

Earlier on Friday, some government officials also met the Congress leader and tried to persuade her to return to Delhi. However, she remained adamant.

Later, in a series of tweets, Priyanka said, "If the government wants to put me in jail for the crime of meeting the victims, I am fully prepared for it.”

"I have come here to meet the poor adivasis who had faced the massacre and know about their problems. This is my 'dharma' as the 'sevak' of the people and also my moral right. My decision to meet them is firm," she said.

"Uttar Pradesh administration has arrested and kept me in the Chunar Fort for the past 9 hours and is saying that I will have to take bail of Rs. 50,000 or else I will be punished and put in jail for 14 days but they will not allow me to go to Sonbhadra as this is an order from the higher ups (sic)," she said.

"I have not broken any law or committed crime. I had made it clear in the morning that I can go alone to meet the families in the adivasi village and the administration can take me there as it wants," she said.

Gandhi said the people "are seeing everything" and refused to take bail.

"I do not consider bail in this connection as morally right and am not ready for it. My clear demand is that I be allowed to meet the adivasis. Government can do whatever it feels is right," she added.

At least 10 people, including three women, died and over 24 were injured in a clash between Gond and Gujjar communities over possession of 90 bighas of disputed land in the district's Ghorawal area on Wednesday. The police have arrested 29 people, including the kingpin Yogesh Dutt, in connection with the violence in Sonebhadra. A case has been filed against 78 people.