BSP legislator ?accused of raping minor suspended?

LUCKNOW — Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday suspended a legislator of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) accused of raping a minor girl.

By (IANS)

Published: Mon 3 Jan 2011, 11:23 PM

Last updated: Tue 30 Jun 2020, 1:07 PM

In an order, the chief minister said BSP legislator Pushottam Narain Dwivedi has been suspended from the party pending an inquiry by the Crime Investigation Department. If found guilty, Dwivedi will be expelled from the party and sent to jail.
“No one, howsoever important, will be spared,” the chief minister said in a stern message.
On Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister ordered a police inquiry into the allegations of gangrape and illegal confinement of a minor girl by Dwivedi and his supporters in the state’s Banda district.
Mayawati got into action only after the issue was raised by both state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who charged her of shielding criminals in her party.
The girl, belonging to the Dalit community, had accused Dwivedi and his henchmen of not only subjecting her to gangrape but also using his influence to implicate her in a theft case.
Dwivedi accused her of stealing his licenced revolver and Rs5,000 from his house, for which she was currently lodged in jail in Banda, 180 km from here.
Congress chief Joshi had earlier also demanded immediate suspension of the Banda superintendent of police for shielding Dwivedi and other culprits. Joshi expressed shock and dismay that state director general of police Karamveer Singh feigned ignorance about the whole issue when she confronted him on the issue.
“The girl was falsely implicated only to shield the MLA from the heinous crime he had committed and, what was worse, that no one was allowed to meet the girl in jail,” she added.
“Even I was disallowed by the jail authorities to speak to the girl,” Joshi said while wondering why the Banda police chief was given permission to “spend six and a half hours with the helpless girl inside the jail Dec 29”.
“I have reason to believe that the SP (superintendent of police) was only trying to intimidate the poor girl and to coerce her not to say anything against the legislator.” —