SP leader Gayatri Prasad Prajapati gets bail in gang-rape case

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has been granted bail in the infamous gang-rape case.

The bail was given by special judge of Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) court Om Prakash Mishra on Tuesday. It is worth mentioning that the Mishra is retiring on April 27.

Gayatri got this bail along with his two associates but the court has asked him to furnish two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each and a personal bond of same amount as a condition of bail.

Gayatri, however, may not be released from the jail. The former UP minister is also facing some legal charges in a case of financial fraud. If UP police had got his custody from the court, it will be impossible for Prajapati to come out of the jail.

It could be recalled that The FIR against the former UP minister was registered after supreme court's intervention and later, Prajapati was arrested and sent to jail.

The case:

• A case was filed against the tainted SP minister and six others, under the relevant sections of gangrape and POCSO Act after the Supreme Court order.
• FIRs against all the accused had been lodged at Gautampalli Kotwali under sections 376D (gangrape), 376, 511,504, 506 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• Those named in the FIR included: Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, Ashok Tiwari, Pintoo Singh, Vikas Verma, Chandrapal, Rupesh and Ashish Shukla.
• The decision against the UP transport minister came on a plea filed by a woman of Chitrakoot district of the state, accusing Prajapati of raping her several times during past two years.
• The woman had stated that the UP minister had promised to appoint her on senior post in the party. The woman had also alleged that Prajapati sexually harassed her daughter.
• According to the 35-year-old victim, the FIR was not lodged by the UP police against the minister, despite her several attempts.