Co-petitioner in hate case against Yogi gets life term in rape case

LUCKNOW: A district court in Gorakhpur on Tuesday sentenced Parvez Parwaz and Mahmood alias Jumman Mian to life imprisonment in a rape case. The court also slapped Rs 25,000 penalty each on them.

A co-petitioner in the alleged hate speech case against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath during the 2007 Gorakhpur riots, Parwaz, 65, was arrested in Gorakhpur on September 26, 2018, after a woman lodged an FIR accusing him and Jumman Mian of raping her.

In her FIR at Rajghat police station in Gorakhpur on September 13, 2018, the woman had said that Parvez Parwaz and Jumman Mian caught hold of her near a ‘mazar’ and took her to a deserted spot where the duo committed rape. She said both of them also threatened her with dire consequences.

The police sent the victim for medical examination and the medical officer in her report confirmed rape.

The statement of the woman was recorded by the magistrates. Later, the statement of the victim was recorded in the court.

A police officer said the court also ordered to deposit Rs 40,000 in the account of the victim for her rehabilitation from the penalty money recovered from the accused.

In 2008, Parwaz had lodged an FIR against the then local MP Adityanath, then city mayor Anju Chaudhri, then MLA Radha Mohan Agarwal and one more person for inciting communal violence in 2007 in Gorakhpur.

Later, he had moved the Allahabad High Court seeking prosecution of accused but the petition was dismissed. Parwaz then challenged the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court, which is pending.

THE COURT ALSO ORDERED TO DEPOSIT RS 40,000 IN VICTIM’S ACCOUNT FOR HER REHABILITATION FROM THE PENALTY MONEY RECOVERED FROM THE ACCUSED.