POCSO court grants bail to Gayatri Prajapati

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati and two of his alleged accomplices were on Tuesday granted bail by a special court here in connection with a rape case. Special judge of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court Om Prakash Mishra granted bail to Prajapati, Vikas Verma and Amrendra Singh alias Mintu.

The court asked Prajapati to furnish two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each and a personal bond of the same amount and directed the accused that they would not affect trial or influence the witnesses during trial and remain in the territorial jurisdiction of the court during the trial. It held that the complainant had given her implied consent in the incident.

not affect trial or influence the witnesses during trial and remain in the territorial jurisdiction of the court during the trial. It held that the complainant had given her implied consent in the incident.

The court observed that since she did not complain to the police or the competent court despite claiming that they had been committing rape on her for last three years, it was an indication that she had given implied consent. It also observed in the order that the circumstances revealed that the accused were implicated in the case due to malafide intention.

In his bail order, the judge said there was contradiction in the statements of the woman and her daughter as recorded under section 161 of CrPC and 164 of the CrPC.

The court also noted that the woman had earlier lodged an FIR in Chitrakoot against three of the accused on almost same allegations but she did not say that rape was committed on her.

"Now after three years of the alleged incident she has leveled the allegations. The incident took place three years ago and it was repeated time and again but the woman did not approach the police or court for lodging her FIR. This goes to prove that the woman had given her consent for cohabitation," the court observed.

An FIR was registered against 49-year-old Prajapati and six others on February 17 on a Supreme Court directive.

Prajapati was then a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. When asked about the bail granted to his former cabinet colleague, Akhilesh said, "It's good that he got bail. Please tell me if there is anything wrong in it."

After being on the run for nearly a month, Prajapati (49) was arrested from the Aashiyana area here on March 15 and was sent to jail for allegedly raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter in 2014.