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senior leader of India's ruling Congress party has been arrested for allegedly criticising state policy of compensating low-caste rape victims.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who heads Congress in Uttar Pradesh state, was televised making fierce criticisms of the state's chief minister, Ms Mayawati.
Supporters of Ms Mayawati's party burned down Ms Joshi's house after news of her comments spread.
Ms Joshi, who is being held in custody, has apologised for her remarks.
Some television channels showed Ms Joshi saying that recipients of rape compensation "should throw the money back in Ms Mayawati's face and tell her that if you are raped, we will give you 10 million rupees".
A senior Uttar Pradesh police official, Brij Lal, said that a criminal case had been registered against Ms Joshi for allegedly "casteist" and derogatory remarks made against chief minister Ms Mayawati - an icon to many Dalits or "untouchables".
It is illegal to make derogatory comments about lower castes under state laws.
Violence
Ms Joshi is said to have made the comments during a meeting of women party workers.
Her comments allegedly included criticisms of Ms Mayawati for handing out financial compensation to victims of rape and murder who are "untouchables" and belong to lower castes.
As the news of the speech spread, the authorities registered a case against Ms Joshi and police arrested her on her way back to the Indian capital, Delhi.
Furious supporters of Ms Mayawati's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) then marched to Ms Joshi's house in the state capital, Lucknow, and set it on fire, reports the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi.
Ms Joshi has apologised for her comments, saying she was only trying to "expose a chief minister who has no sympathy for women".
"I regret what I said in a fit of anger. If it is being misconstrued, if it's being misinterpreted, it is being taken out of context, then I regret it," she said.
"I am myself a woman and I should not have spoken these words .. I really apologise."
Congress party leader Digvijay Singh criticised the decision to arrest Ms Joshi.
"This is an example of the rule of the jungle in Uttar Pradesh. Ms Joshi has already apologised for her comments. What she said was not correct, but we need to see in what context she made the remarks," he told reporters.
The incident is likely to escalate into a major political controversy given the rising tensions between the Congress party and the ruling BSP in Uttar Pradesh, our correspondent says.
Relations between the two parties have been tense ever since the Congress made major inroads in this politically crucial state - Uttar Pradesh has 85 MPs in the Indian parliament - during recent general elections.
