Victim arrested for not turning up in MP/MLA court

LUCKNOW : The woman, who had accused former UP minister Gayatri Prajapati and six others of gang-rape, was on Wednesday arrested in compliance of the non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against her by Lucknow MP/MLA court for not turning up to record her statement despite multiple reminders, said police officials. She was nabbed from her hideout in Ashiana early in the morning, they said.

“The woman has been arrested in compliance with the NBW issued by Lucknow MP/MLA court and produced before it for further legal proceedings. The court issued the NBW against her for not turning up as witness against one Ashish Shukla, one of the seven accused in the gang- rape case against the minister and his aides,” said KK Tiwari, inspector in-charge of Gomti Nagar police station.

The woman had lodged an FIR alleging her rape and an attempt to rape her daughter (then minor) against the former minister and his six aides on February 18, 2017. Apart from the minister, six others accused in the FIR were Ashok Tewari, Pintu Singh, Vikas Verma, Chandra Pal, Rupesh and Ashish Shukla.

The FIR was registered under IPC sections 376-D for gang-rape, 376/511 for attempt to rape, and section ¾ of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The woman alleged that she was raped at the minister’s official residence at 5, Gautampalli in Lucknow.

Prajapati was arrested in March, 2017. Since then, several other cases including those related to money laundering, fraud and issuing threat were registered against him.

In September 2020, the woman’s former lawyer DC Tripathi had accused her of turning hostile in the rape case against the former minister after receiving several benefits. The woman had also lodged an FIR against the lawyer and one Ram Singh for rape in Chitrakoot in June, 2019.