Congress demands arrest of ‘rapist’ BSP legislator

LUCKNOW - The Congress’s Uttar Pradesh unit Friday demanded “immediate arrest” of a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and his cohorts allegedly involved in gang-rape of a minor girl in Banda district.

“BSP MLA (member of legislative assembly) Purushottam Narain Dwivedi not only raped the 17-year old girl, belonging to the socially backward Nishad community, but also used his undue influence in the area to falsely implicate the girl in a case of theft,” state party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi told a press conference here .

Urging Chief Minister Mayawati to “direct her police to register the girl’s father’s FIR against the MLA”, Joshi also demanded constitution of a special medical board for a physical examination of the girl, besides a high level independent judicial probe into the matter.

“Dwivedi and his henchmen kept her in confinement and later accused her of stealing the legislator’s licensed revolver and Rs.5,000 from his house, for which she was currently lodged in the local jail there (in Banda),” she added,

Joshi also demanded immediate suspension of the Banda superintendent of police for shielding Dwivedi and other culprits. Joshi expressed shock and dismay that state director general of police Karamveer Singh feigned ignorance about the whole issue when she confronted him on the issue.

“The girl was falsely implicated only to shield the MLA from the heinous crime he had committed and, what was worse, that no one was allowed to meet the girl in jail,” she added.

“Even I was disallowed by the jail authorities to speak to the girl,” Joshi said while wondering why the Banda police chief was given permission to “spend six and a half hours with the helpless girl inside the jail Dec 29″.

“I have reason to believe that the SP (superintendent of police) was only trying to intimidate the poor girl and to coerce her not to say anything against the legislator.”

Announcing a series of street protests and demonstrations in Banda, 180 km from Lucknow, to bring the culprits to book, Joshi has given a call to local Congress workers to stage a sit-in at the district magistrate’s office Saturday.