Within 24 hours of registration of a rape case against BJP legislator from Bhadohi and his kin, yet another BJP MLA from Ballia, Surendra Singh, was in the eye of a storm after his son Hazari Singh and supporters were booked for manhandling a Dalit revenue official.
In an FIR lodged with Bairia police station on Thursday, Revenue department official Radhey Shyam Ram accused Hazari Singh and 10 of his aides of manhandling him. The accused were booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
While the Union government recently paved the way for the arrest of those accused of subjecting Dalits to atrocities, the police said that action would be taken after getting sufficient evidence in Ballia case. Surendra Singh represents Bairia constituency in UP Assembly.
Meanwhile, in Bhadohi, the police beefed up security of a woman complainant after she lodged an FIR against local BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi, his three sons and three aides for raping her for a month in 2017. The woman had complained that she was getting life threats.
Bhadohi SP Ram Badan Singh said, “The complainant alleged that she was getting threats after which her she was provided with a round-the-clock security cover consisting of three constables, including two women constables.”
The 40-year-old woman, a widow, lodged a complaint with the police on February 10, following which an FIR was registered on Wednesday.
The SP further said, “The complainant alleged that she was first raped by Tripathi’s nephew Sandeep Tiwari in 2016 and she did not lodge a complaint as Tiwari had promised to marry her. She also alleged that during 2017 Assembly polls, she was kept at a hotel for a month by Tiwari and all the seven accused visited the hotel intermittently and raped her. She also said that she got pregnant and was forced to go for an abortion.”
After initial probe, an FIR was registered against the seven accused at City police station of Bhadohi on Wednesday. The SP said that the woman’s statement was recorded before a magistrate and her medical examination would be conducted on Saturday after which further action would be taken.