Finally, the case against rape-accused former Samajwadi Party (SP) minister Gayatri Prajapati is gaining momentum. The Lucknow Police on June 2 filed the chargesheet against him and six others and the charges pertain to Prajapati’s raping a woman and also attempting to molest her minor daughter. He had also blackmailed the woman.
The chargesheet was filed at a local court, say reports.
The case gained currency before the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and severely shamed SP leaders. The incident started when a woman lawmaker in Chitrakoot alleged that Prajapati and his henchmen had raped her and had also tried to molest her minor daughter in 2014.
Prajapati was initially defiant and thought his connections with the top leadership would see him through his horrible act. The then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, however, refused to interfere with the law, extricating his party from slander in the shameful act.
Prajapati absconded and the Supreme Court directed that an FIR be lodged against him and six others. This FIR was lodged in February. For a month, the ex-minister was on the run before being finally arrested on March 15. The 49-year-old, who maintains that he has been framed by his political rivals, will now feel the full impact of the law, with even his party out of power in UP.
He had appealed to the apex court for clemency and for a stay on the arrest order, but the court had flatly refused.
—India Legal Bureau