Lucknow: A Special court in Lucknow sentenced former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati and two others to life imprisonment in connection with the Chitrakoot Gang Rape Case of 2017, on Friday. Apart from life imprisonment, a fine of Rs 2 lakh each has also been imposed on the three convicts. Earlier, on Wednesday all three were held guilty in the case.
Special Judge PK Rai on Wednesday held Prajapati , a key member of Akhilesh Yadav’s Cabinet, holding portfolios of the transport and mining ministries, and two others guilty, stating that the prosecution had proven the charges against the trio beyond a reasonable doubt. The three accused- Gayatri, Ashish Shukla and Ashok Tiwari, were found guilty under Section 376D of the IPC and Section 5/6 of the POCSO Act. While convicting the trio, the judge acquitted four other accused in the case- Vikas Verma, Roopeshwar, Amrendra Singh alias Pintu, and Chandrapal, due to a lack of evidence against them.
In the year 2017, it was alleged by a Chitrakoot-based woman that Prajapati and his six aides had gang-raped her and attempted to outrage the modesty of her minor daughter when he was a minister in Uttar Pradesh. The woman had claimed that the minister and his accomplices have been raping her since October 2014. She decided to complain against them after the accused tried to molest and rape her minor daughter in July 2016. ?In 2017, after the Uttar Pradesh police denied registering an FIR against Prajapati, after which a PIL petition was filed by the woman in the Supreme Court and had sought the court’s direction for lodging an FIR.
The FIR against the minister was registered at the Gautampalli police station on the directions of the Supreme Court, which gave its order on the woman’s plea against the police inaction over her complaint. After the registration of the FIR on February 18, 2017, the minister was arrested in March and had been in jail ever since then.
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