A day after being released on interim bail,UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Sunday alleged maltreatment in the Moradabad District Jail,saying that she was treated like an ordinary criminal there and not a political prisoner. Countering allegations of having made derogatory remarks against Dalits,she said that since 1947,there had been a Dalit and a Muslim cook in her house. Joshi met Digvijay Singh in Delhi on Sunday,and was granted permission to launch a movement in Uttar Pradesh demanding a CBI inquiry into the vandalism and arson at her Lucknow house hours after her controversial speech on Mayawati. She is likely to call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. Joshi,who will be seeing the damage to her house for the first time on Monday,told The Indian Express: In all my life,if anybody can prove that I ever used a word against a Dalit,I will quit public life. My party,my family and I have always worked for the uplift of Dalits and social harmony. Since 1947,my family has had a Dalit and a Muslim cook. Even today,in my house in Allahabad,I have a Dalit cook. Claiming that her speech in which she was accused to have insulted Dalits had been twisted,Joshi said: I was addressing the Chief Minister,and not a Dalit. I was espousing the cause of women as to how compensation for rape did not mean anything and real justice would be to punish the perpetrators. It was a woman talking to women about a woman chief minister. Can a CM have a caste? The entire thing has been twisted by the CM. Noting that she had already expressed regret for using one word which she should not have,the UPCC chief said: But my issue still remains. The plight of women in UP is still deplorable. Alleging maltreatment during her imprisonment,she said she was not allowed to have food from outside and had to eat what was cooked for other prisoners,while her friends and family members were denied access to her. Her husband could visit her only once. She was kept in a barrack meant for 16 women,but there were 55 inmates. It was part of her (Mayawatis) vindictive attitude. They created a lot of problems,but I took it peacefully, said Joshi.
