Met victims of Sonbhadra firing, countrymen to stand with them: Priyanka

Congress' east UP general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said that she met the kin of the victims of Sonbhadra firing at Ubbha village and has urged the countrymen to stand with them "in the name of humanity".

"Finally met the families of Ubbha massacre. What they have been through is unimaginably brutal and unjust. Every single Indian should stand with them in the name of humanity," Priyanka tweeted.

The tweet shared by her also had a video of her interaction with the kin of those killed in the incident.

Earlier, Vadra announced that the Congress would pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to next of kin of those killed in Sonbhadra firing and demanded that Uttar Pradesh's BJP government should pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the victims.

On Friday, Priyanka was detained when she was on her way to meet the kin of those killed in the July 17 Sonbhadra firing, which the Congress has termed as the massacre.

She was escorted to Mirzapur by the Uttar Pradesh Police from Varanasi. She spent a night at the guest house.

Priyanka throughout her protest had maintained that she would not leave the guest house without meeting Sonbhadra victims' families.

She even asked the police to allow her to visit Sonbhadra with two persons as that would not violate Section 144 imposed there, which restricts the movement of more than four persons in an area.

The Sonbhadra firing took place at Ubbha village of Ghorawal where the village head went to take possession of his land purchased two years ago. However, he met with opposition from the villagers, which triggered the firing allegedly by his aides leading to 10 deaths.