By IANS,
New Delhi: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday visited the AIIMS hospital here to meet a 14-year-old Dalit girl from Uttar Pradesh who was blinded by her assailants after she resisted rape, officials said.
Gandhi arrived at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the girl has been admitted for treatment, at 10.45 a.m. and spoke to her as well as her family members.
According to official sources, Gandhi also interacted with the team of doctors treating the girl. The doctors told him that the girl has lost vision in one eye and efforts are on to improve the sight in the other.
Rahul Gandhi tried to motivate the young victim and expressed his sympathies. “He interacted with the family and doctors for 40 minutes,” the sources told IANS.
The girl was attacked by two boys June 14 in Gursahaiganj in Kannauj district, about 180 km from Lucknow. She was shifted to the Rajendra Prasad Eye Centre of the AIIMS June 22 for treatment.
Rahul Gandhi’s visit came as scores of Congress leaders and workers led by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi were detained for defying ban on gathering of five or more people as they tried to march towards the state assembly building in Lucknow to protest the rise in crime under Mayawati government in the state.
The Congress has also sharpened its attack on the Bahujan Samaj Party-led state government with an eye on the elections in the state next year.