Nalanda minor girl rape: Charges framed against suspended RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav

Pic courtesy: ANI

Nalanda: A district court on Monday framed charges against former minister and RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav and other accused persons in the rape case of a minor girl in Nalanda two months ago.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (I) Shashi Bhushan Prasad Singh framed charges against Yadav under various sections of IPC that include 376 for raping a girl besides Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012, Special Public Prosecutor Shyameshwar Dayal said. 

Charges have also been framed against the other five accused persons under Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. Sulekha Devi and her kin, named in the charge sheet, were accused of supplying girls to the RJD MLA and were arrested. 

In April, a 205-page chargesheet was filed by women's police station in-charge Mridula Kumari in the court of additional district judge Rashmi Shikha with the RJD MLA listed as the main accused.

A minor girl reported to the Nalanda district police on February 6 that a woman named Sulekha Devi took her an undisclosed place about 15 km away from the district headquarters, Bihar Sharif. The woman forced her to have liquor after which she was allegedly raped by a man, later identified as legislator Yadav, the girl said. All this while Devi was present there, the minor alleged in her complaint to the police.

Devi then gave the girl Rs 30,000 but she went home and informed her parents about the incident who approached the police. Initially, a case was registered against Devi. During police investigations, when the minor girl was taken to the site of the crime, it was found to be the RJD's legislator's house. She also identified Yadav as the man who allegedly raped her.

Yadav, who won from Nawada seat on RJD ticket in 2015 Assembly polls and is a former minister in the RJD government, was suspended by the party on February 14 after the rape charges surfaced. Currently, Yadav and the other accused persons are lodged in a district jail.

The RJD is the majority partner in the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance government in the state.