From corridors of power to a tumble in hall of shame
LUCKNOW: The rape allegation that an 18-year-old girl has made against Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao district, is not the first instance of a politician facing such accusations.
Some of the politicians who have been charged with rape in the past are in jail while others have managed to get bail.
During the Samajwadi Party regime (2012-17), then mining minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, who called the shots in the corridors of power, was accused of gang raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter.
The woman, a resident of Chitrakoot, alleged Prajapati raped her for three years. When police refused to register an FIR, the woman moved a petition in the Supreme Court which directed the police to register a case against Prajapati.
Even after registration of the FIR, Gayatri continued to evade arrest and tried to intimidate the victim. The woman, along with her family members staged a sit-in at the gate of Prajapati’s official residence in Lucknow, leading to statewide outrage.
The opposition parties launched an agitation, demanding justice for the victim.
The police arrested Gayatri, who had remained untraceable for about a month, and his six alleged associates in March last year. The matter is in court and the former minister continues to be in jail.
In December 2010, another lawmaker Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi was charged with raping a girl in his house in Banda district. Dwivedi was the BSP MLA from Naraini in Banda from 2007-12.
Initially, the police refused to register the victim’s FIR and, instead, sent her to jail after Dwivedi accused her of theft.
The then BSP government tried to protect Dwivedi, fearing that action against him might lead to anger among upper caste voters, said people who had followed the case then. Social organisations staged demonstrations against arrest of the girl.
The media too highlighted the issue and the opposition parties tried to derive political mileage in the run-up to the 2012 assembly election. Under pressure, the state government ordered a CB-CID probe into the matter.
The agency gave a clean chit to the girl and nailed the MLA. The state government ordered registration of an FIR against Dwivedi. The police produced him in a local court which sent him to jail in 2011. Dwivedi was lodged in Banda district jail but he managed to get bail later.
Another powerful politician Amarmani Tripathi was accused in the murder of a poetess in 2003 and convicted some years later. Initially, he used his political influence to escape arrest. His clout could be gauged from the fact that the then BSP government removed the investigation officer in the murder case after he refused to give a clean chit to Tripathi. Later, the government bowed to public pressure and the police arrested Tripathi.
The case was handed over to the CBI on a court directive. In 2007, the case was transferred to a Dehradun special court that sentenced him to life imprisonment. Allegedly using his influence, Tripathi got himself admitted in the BRD Medical College hospital in Gorakhpur where he was given a private room from where he managed his political activities. When the media highlighted the matter, the state government shifted him to jail. Former MLAs Anup Sanda, Sri Bhagwan Sharma, Manoj Paras and Mohammad Alim were also charged in cases of alleged sexual assault. Although the victims registered FIRs, the accused enjoyed state protection due to their political connections. The cases against them are still being heard in court.