FIR lodged against UP minister Gayatri Prajapati on SC order in alleged gang-rape case

Lucknow: An FIR was lodged against Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati on a Supreme Court order on Saturday in connection with cases of alleged gang-rape and attempt to rape a woman and her daughter.

The apex court's direction came on a PIL filed by a woman who has alleged repeated gang-rape by Transport Minister Gayatri Prajapati and others and had sought the court's direction for lodging of an FIR.

Advocate Mehmood Pracha, appearing for petitioner, told the apex court said the alleged incident had first taken place in October 2014 and continued till July 2016 and when the accused tried to molest the minor daughter of the petitioner, she decided to lodge a complaint.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, state general secretary of the BJP, said the order of the apex court not only showed the mirror to the Chief Minister and the ruling SP it also vindicated that there was complete anarchy in the state under the SP regime.

The Supreme Court on Friday, in a matter pertaining to a petition by a rape victim had ordered the UP police to lodge an FIR against Prajapati, whose acts of omission and commission during his tenure as the state's Mining Minister was also under scrutiny. Known for his proximity to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, he was initially detested by the 43-year-old Chief Minister but their relationship seems to have turned a new leaf of late.

He was sacked by the Akhilesh Yadav last year from his cabinet only to reinstate him within days. The BJP has also demanded that the rape victim be provided adequate security by the police.