No respite for Gayatri in gangrape case; bail plea rejected

Lucknow: A special court on Wednesday rejected the bail application of former Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prasad Prajapati in the gangrape and death threat case.

The decision was passed by special POSCO judge Justice Uma Shanker Sharma here, after hearing his bail petition.

Rejecting the bail plea, the judge said, "The bail applications of the other accused in the case have already been quashed, and Gayatri is the main accused. He also has political influence. So, he may maintain pressure on the witnesses by threatening to kill them. Hence, the court cannot allow him bail."

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Earlier on July 19, the special court had rejected a plea by lawyers of Gayatri Prajapati, an accused in a gang-rape case, for the removal of POSCO charges on him.

The court had framed charges against the senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and six others under the POCSO Act.

The court had also observed a strong doubt was enough as an evidence and added that there were eye witness accounts and other evidence as well against the accused Gayatri Prajapati, Vikas Verma, Ashish Shukla, Ashok Tiwari and others in the chargesheet.

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Keeping these things in mind, the court observed, revoking the charges under POSCO would not be correct.

Prajapati, one of the most powerful ministers in the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, is languishing in prison in gang-rape charges. He was given bail a few weeks ago but it was cancelled after a furore.

A committee formed by the Allahabad High Court to probe the granting of bail had discovered that the former minister was given bail by a judge set to retire a day later at a bribe fixed at around Rs 2 crore.