Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the brutal murder of Dalit villager Hariom Valmiki in Raebareli has “shaken the conscience” of the entire nation, and accused the administration of trying to intimidate the victim’s family.

Gandhi, who met with the family of the deceased in Fatehpur district, also charged that authorities tried to stop the family from meeting him.

In a post on X in Hindi, Gandhi said, “The brutal murder of Hariom Valmiki has shaken the conscience of the entire nation. There was a question in his family’s eyes along with pain: Is being a Dalit still a deadly crime in this country?”

“The administration in Uttar Pradesh is busy intimidating the victim’s family. They even tried to prevent the family from meeting me. This is the same failure of the system --“ which, every time, shields the perpetrators and puts the victim in the dock,” Gandhi charged.

Maintaining that “justice cannot be put under house arrest”, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the BJP government must end the pressure on the victim’s family and ensure the harshest punishment for the culprits.

“I stand firmly with Hariom Valmiki’s family and every exploited, deprived, and vulnerable citizen of the country. This fight is not just for Hariom -“ it is for every voice that refuses to bow to injustice,” he said on X.Gandhi spent about 25 minutes with the family during which he spoke with Hariom’s father Gangadeen, brother Shivam, and sister Kusum, and offered condolences. Later speaking to reporters, Gandhi charged that, “Dalit oppression is at its peak under this government.” Referring to the alleged suicide by Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, Gandhi said that “A few days ago, a Dalit officer had committed suicide. I went there, and today, I came here”.

Slamming the authorities, the former Congress president said while a crime has been committed against the family, they have been made out to feel like criminals.

“They have been kept inside the house, and are being intimidated. They are only demanding justice, and are not doing anything. And, they have been stopped from moving out of the house,” Gandhi alleged.

Referring to Valmiki’s family, he said, “Inside (the house) there is a young woman, who has to undergo an operation, but is unable to do so, because the government has kept them inside.”

Gandhi said the chief minister should give the victim’s family justice, respect them, and take quick action against criminals.

On the video in which a family member was purportedly heard saying that they do not want to meet him, Gandhi said, “You have seen that the family held a meeting with me, which lasted for half-an-hour. They said that they were ‘threatened’ in the morning by the people in the government and they were told not to meet

Rahul Gandhi.”