Priyanka Vadra Incident: Officer Archana Singh Put Duty Above Death In Her Family

Lucknow: Congress leader and general secretary in charge of eastern UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday, alleged that she had been grabbed by her throat and manhandled when she was on her way to meet Congress leader Sadaf Jafar and former IPS officer, SR Darapuri, who were arrested during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) last week.

The UP police rebutted the Congress leader's allegations claiming she was roughed up by a policewoman. The Lucknow Superintendent of police, Kalanidhi Naithini said that the officer in charge, Dr. Archana Singh, in a report submitted to the Additional SP, stated that the allegations that UP police manhandled Priyanka Vadra, were untrue.

Incidentally, Archana Singh received the sad news of the death of her paternal cousin while she was attending to her duties as fleet-in-charge of Priyanka Vadra's visit. However, Singh, posted as Circle Officer in Modern Control Room in Lucknow, kept her emotions in check and did not inform her superior officers of the death in her family, at that time.

Her cousin had been admitted to a hospital in Delhi. Singh is said to have been planning to visit him when she was deployed as officer in-charge of Priyanka Vadra's convoy and put duty over filial responsibility.

Singh is reported to have been shocked at the allegations by Priyanka Vadra that she had been manhandled by the UP police and the charges on social media. The officer submitted a detailed report on the incident. She is reported to have become emotional on learning of the charges levelled by the Congress leader. After submitting her report to her superior officers, Dr. Archana Singh is said to have sought their permission to leave for her ancestral village in Bihar where the last rites of her cousin were being performed.

Meanwhile, there was a groundswell of support for officer Archana Singh on Twitter with the hashtag #IstandwithArchana climbing to the top of the trends on Sunday morning.