Judge who bailed out Prajapati is suspended

The administrative committee of the Allahabad High Court has suspended Justice Om Prakash Mishra for granting bail to former Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati, accused in a gang rape case. All powers of the Additional District and Sessions Court judge have also been seized by the court, after Chief Justice D B Bhonsle took a grim view of the bail granted to the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader by the judge.

Mishra was posted in the Protection of Child Sexual Offences (Pocso) Court in Lucknow. He is set to retire on April 30.

Registrar General of the high court D K Singh confirmed the suspension of the judge on Saturday. Indications of the impending actioncame during the hearing of a petition in the high court on Friday wherein bail to the tainted minister was challenged by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Gayatri Prajapati was a powerful minister in the former Akhilesh Yadav cabinet and held the Mining and Transport portfolios. He was accused of patronising illegal mining, a charge being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The former Amethi legislator, who bit the dust at the hustings in the Assembly polls in March, was accused of raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter.