Kolkata, October 1: Protesting against the alleged gang rape of the Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, Congress workers blocked an arterial road in central Kolkata on Thursday after being stopped from marching to the state BJP headquarters, leading to a scuffle with the police, officials said.

Around 100 Congress workers, led by opposition leader in the state assembly Abdul Mannan, were stopped near the MG Road-CR Avenue Crossing, not far away from the BJP office on Muralidhar Sen Lane, they said. Also Read | SD Burman's 114th Birth Anniversary: From Papon to Akhil Sachdeva, Noted Singers Celebrate the Work of Legendary Music Icon.

They blocked the important thoroughfare in the central part of the city briefly during the evening rush hours, triggering a scuffle with police who tried to clear the road, officials said. Another group of around 100 Congress members marched along the CIT Road to reach the Park Circus Seven-Point Crossing where they held a demonstration. Also Read | Gandhi Jayanti 2020: Why Is Gandhi Jayanti a Dry Day? Is Gandhi Jayanti National Holiday? Are Restaurants Closed on Gandhi Jayanti? FAQs Answered!.

They carried placards, demanding death sentence for those involved in the Hathras incident, and also protested against the alleged heckling of party leader Rahul Gandhi. An effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also burnt by the protesting Congress workers.

Similar rallies were also taken out in other parts of central and north Kolkata, senior Congress leader Subhankar Sarkar said. A 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14 and referred to the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died around 3 am on Tuesday.

Her brutal death and subsequent cremation in the dead of the night in Hathras allegedly under police pressure on Tuesday triggered massive outrage over the law and order situation in UP and over women safety in general.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were on Thursday detained by the Uttar Pradesh police after they were stopped on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida while walking towards Hathras to meet the rape victim's family. Rahul Gandhi also fell down in the scuffle after police tried to stop him and his supporters near the Jewar toll plaza.

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