Former Bihar Minister Gets Bail In Rape Case [Read Order]

The High Court of Patna on Friday granted bail to former Labour Minister and RJD MLA from Nawada, Raj Ballabh Prasad alias Raj Ballabh Yadav, who is accused of raping a minor.

Granting the application, Chief Justice of the High Court Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari observed, “There is no dispute that the accused-petitioner is a legislator and, therefore, has roots in the society. It is not even whispered by the prosecution that the accused would not be available for trial or would abscond if he is released on bail. Though the attention of the Court has been drawn to a complaint, which has been made by the informant alleging to the effect that the accused has been intimidating the witnesses, there is no credible finding even by the prosecution agency in this regard.”

“The filing of the very application shows that as far as the informant/victim is concerned, she is not intimidated and that is why, the informant had the courage to file the complaint with the police. There is, however, no report from the police that there is any semblance of truth in this allegation. If mere filing of such a complaint becomes the basis of rejection of bail, it would, perhaps, become easiest thing for a complainant or an informant to do in order to make the court deny bail to an accused. The informant/alleged victim, admittedly, seek justice and, therefore, on the basis of the materials available as on today, there is no reason to apprehend that they would not be able to give evidence against the accused,” he further stated.

The Court noted that there existed no material indicating interference in the trial by the accused. It was of the view that there was no possibility of the accused to abscond or not be available for trial. It hence released him on bail of Rs. 10,000 with two sureties.

As per the allegations, the 15 year old victim was taken to an undisclosed location by a woman identified as Sulekha Devi. The victim was forced to have liquor after which she was raped by a man. The MLA’s name had come forth during investigation, after being identified by the victim herself.

He was then suspended from the party in February this year, after the allegations had surfaced. The suspension orders had come a day after his arrest order was issued by Shalin, Deputy Inspector-General (Central).

Read the order here.