HC suspends judge for bail to Prajapati

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, April 29

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court headed by Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale today suspended the judge who had granted bail to former Samajwadi Party minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati facing rape and molestation charges.

It ordered a departmental inquiry under Justice (rtd) Sudhir Agarwal against Lucknow’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) special court’s Additional Sessions Judge Om Prakash Mishra and stayed the April 26 order granting bail to Prajapati and his two associates.

The controversial minister and his associates were released from the Lucknow district jail on Wednesday on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each. It was on the Supreme Court’s order that a police complaint was filed against them in February and non-bailable warrants issued. After a month-long hunt, coinciding with the long- drawn Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prajapati was finally nabbed by the Special Task Force in Lucknow on March 15.

Seeking cancellation of Prajapati’s bail application, state Advocate General VK Shahi said the accused had misled the court, claiming no criminal case was pending against him. The fact was he was facing six criminal cases.

The alleged rape of a woman and molestation of her minor daughter had attracted a lot of media attention in the run-up to the Assembly elections. The victim from Chitrakoot had approached the Gautampalli police station on February 17, alleging she had been raped by Prajapati and his two accomplices for several months and that the three had also sexually assaulted her minor daughter at Prajapati’s residence.