Chitrakoot Gang Rape Case- UP Court Convicts Former UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati

A special court in Lucknow on Wednesday convicted former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati and two others in the Chitrakoot Gang Rape Case on 2017.

Special Judge Pawan Kumar Rai (presiding over an MP/MLA Court) found the three accused, including Gayatri, guilty under Section 376D of the IPC and Section 5/6 of the POCSO Act. The order regarding the quantum of sentence would be pronounced on November 12.

Apart from him, the court has also convicted two other accused, namely Ashish Shukla and Ashok Tiwari. The court did not find evidence against Gayatri's gunner Chanderpal, PRO Rupeshwar alias Rupesh and Vikas Verma, son of a senior PCS officer, and Amarendra Singh alias Pintu, and therefore, they were acquitted.

Case against Prajapati

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.

In 2017, after the Uttar Pradesh police denied registering an FIR against Prajapati, therefor, a PIL petition was filed by the woman in the Supreme Court and had sought the court's direction for lodging an FIR.

Consequently, the Supreme Court had ordered the UP police to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against him in connection with cases of alleged gang rape and sexual harassment.

However, the woman, who accused the former minister of rape and filed the aforesaid PIL, had later withdrawn her statement by submitting an application in the special MP-MLA court in Prayagraj in 2019. The woman retracted her statement in court saying that the former minister did not rape her but two of his aides did.

Notably, in 2019, the CBI had registered two FIRs in connection with the mining scam in Uttar Pradesh and had named Prajapati and four IAS officers. The FIRs were registered as the central probe agency conducted search operations at 12 locations in the state.

In October 2020, the Supreme Court had set aside the order of interim bail granted by Allahabad High Court to former Uttar Pradesh Minister, Gayatri Prajapati on account of his health condition.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy & MR Shah had observed that due medical care is being given to the Prajapati and that the order passed by the High Court was "unsustainable" as it had not considered entire materials on record.