Rahul Gandhi asked officer if the police did not feel ashamed to detain army veteran's family.
Highlights
- Rahul Gandhi detained twice after he tried to meet army veteran's family
- Ex-armyman allegedly committed suicide in Delhi over pension
- Police said they had warned Mr Gandhi not to obstruct hospital work
Seated on a chair at the Mandir Marg Marg police station in the capital where he was detained, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi hit out at policemen for also detaining the son of an Army veteran who committed suicide yesterday.
"Do you have no shame? His father has died, how can you arrest the son of an Army veteran," he asked a visibly uncomfortable police officer who was trying to explain to the Congress leader why he had been detained.
Mr Gandhi was later shifted to another police station as hundreds of Congress workers had gathered outside the first one he was taken to, before being released. He was in detention for nearly two hours.
The Congress vice president was detained outside Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital when he tried to meet the family of the ex-serviceman Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly poisoned himself on the lawns of a government building in the capital yesterday.
In a suicide note the veteran said he had still not received the increased pension promised to him by the government under its one-rank-one-pension scheme.
Rahul Gandhi was detained for a second time in the evening after he met the veteran's family.
Subedar Grewal's son Jaswant was detained after he joined impromptu protests against his father's death outside the hospital. The family has alleged that they were manhandled by policemen at the hospital before being brought to the same police station.
"This is the new India. Recognise it," Mr Gandhi said at the hospital earlier as he waited to the meet the veteran's family. He was detained after he refused to leave at the police's request.
The Congress has called Mr Gandhi's detention "illegal" and accused the BJP-led central government of using the Delhi Police in an "anti-democratic" move.
"You don't need permission to go the hospital, to meet families of soldiers," said the party's Anand Sharma.
The police have said they had warned Mr Gandhi and other politicians detained today like Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia of the Aam Aadmi Party not to obstruct hospital work. "Delhi Police will not allow any obstruction at a hospital. They were making speeches. Leaders should understand they can't do politics here," a police officer said.
"Police will do what it has to for risk reduction," said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.