Jaipur: The top brass of the Rajasthan Congress including state president Govind Singh Dotasra and several legislators staged an overnight dharna at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate office which continued on Tuesday (October 20) morning, demanding that a zero FIR be registered against a woman constable of Delhi police who allegedly assaulted a woman leader of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) during the recent protests in the national capital.A zero FIR allows a complaint to be filed at any police station regardless of the crime’s location.Earlier, Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi had asked Rajasthan Congress president Dotasra over a phone call to lodge a zero FIR against Delhi police constable Chanchal Yadav, who allegedly assaulted NSUI national secretary Ritu Barala on October 13 during a protest in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.“We will not leave until a zero FIR is lodged. If we can’t even lodge an FIR, how can we help the public? A young woman has been assaulted, the entire national media has seen it, the LoP has raised the issue and yet an FIR can’t be lodged?” said Dotasra.Apart from Barala – the complainant in the matter – several other leaders sat on the dharna with Dotasra including NSUI national president Vinod Jakhar, MLAs Rafeek Khan, Amin Kagzi, Indira Meena and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.The Congress leaders had first gone to the Moti Doongri police station on Monday (October 19) evening to lodge the FIR, and later went to the Jaipur Police Commissionerate to meet the police commissioner who wasn’t available at the moment.Thereafter, the Congress leaders, who claimed that the police told them to wait, spent Monday evening and night at the Jaipur Commissionerate, sleeping on mattresses outside the cabins of senior police officials and singing bhajans over the lawn of the sprawling compound of the Commisionerate.Rajasthan Congress president Govind Dotasra and other Congress leaders staging an overnight dharna at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate on Monday (October 19) night. Photo: By arrangement.Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot too visited the Congress delegation late in the night at the Jaipur Commissionerate.“When it comes to fighting dictators, people had stayed in jail for years during the freedom movement. If for ensuring that the law is followed, what is 1-2 days, it doesn’t matter if (we stay) for a month, 6 months or 12 months. The 173 (1) clause of the BNSS made by Modi ji and Amit Shah ji clearly says that an aggrieved person, especially women and elderly people can register their report. They will have to register a zero FIR and send to Delhi,” said Dotasra on Tuesday (October 20), after spending the night at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate.Dotasra said that the Congress delegation had come to the Jaipur Police Commisionerate after the station house officer (SHO) of the Moti Doongri police station told them to do so and has been waiting since then for a response from the police. He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan is waiting for a “parchi (slip)” from the Union government for further course of action.In recent years, the Congress has constantly labelled the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led government in the state as “parchi sarkar” – a government which runs on the basis of instructions sent by the BJP’s central leadership on slips .“This dharna is not by us. They told us that they will let us know whether they will abide by the law. If they abide by the law, they will have to register the FIR and we will leave after thanking them. If they don’t abide by the law then we will go to any extent to ensure that the law is followed. We will sit here. If they want, they can shoot us, hit us with lathis. Today Ravan’s pride will be burnt (since its Dussehra) and Congress workers will burn the pride of the double engine government,” said Dotasra.‘I was strangled, my clothes were torn’Earlier, NSUI national secretary Barala had told LoP Gandhi that she was brutally assaulted by a woman police constable of Delhi police during the protest on October 13.“After detaining me, a woman constable named Chanchal Yadav was strangling me and I got scratched too. Thereafter she again strangled me and also rubbed my ear with her shoes with great force. She also tore my clothes,” Barala had said, while speaking to LoP Gandhi on October 16.Delhi Police is refusing to register an FIR on the assault of our students.Two young women, Athira from Kerala and Ritu from Rajasthan, along with many others, were beaten by Delhi Police.I have spoken to Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Rajasthan PCC President Govind Singh Dotasra. A Zero FIR has already been registered in Kerala. We will pursue every legal route against the officers responsible, in Kerala, in Rajasthan and in the courts.Brutality by Amit Shah’s Delhi Police will not go unchecked.In 1930, at Dharasana, Sarojini Naidu led unarmed satyagrahis into police lathis. Not one of them raised a hand. The world watched.Police can break bones. They cannot break a satyagraha.India’s youth, especially young women, are fearless, determined and united. They are standing up for our democracy, and I stand with them.— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 16, 2026Thereafter, Gandhi had spoken with Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Dotasra and Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala about the incident, urging them to lodge an FIR against Yadav. Subsequently a zero FIR was lodged in Kerala, which is ruled by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).“Delhi Police is refusing to register an FIR on the assault of our students. Two young women, Athira from Kerala and Ritu from Rajasthan, along with many others, were beaten by Delhi Police. I have spoken to Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Rajasthan PCC President Govind Singh Dotasra. A Zero FIR has already been registered in Kerala. We will pursue every legal route against the officers responsible, in Kerala, in Rajasthan and in the courts. Brutality by Amit Shah’s Delhi Police will not go unchecked,” Gandhi had said.In videos shared by Dotasra on X, senior police officials of the Jaipur Commissionerate are seen telling the Congress delegation that the police first want to conduct an inquiry before registering the FIR, to which the opposition leaders don’t agree.“It is a settled law of the Supreme Court that if the case involves a woman you have to file a zero FIR. Our stand is clear, either we will go after taking the zero FIR, or we will leave after an FIR is filed against us and we are pushed away,” Dotasra told the police officials.The Congress continued its dharna at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate on Tuesday morning. Large number of Congress workers reached the Commissionerate on Dotasra’s call, demanding the registration of the zero FIR.