MLA rape case: Maya orders release of girl

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday ordered the release of a jailed backward caste girl who was allegedly raped by a Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly and said action will be taken against policemen involved in harassing the minor.

"The chief minister has ordered the release of the girl currently lodged in Banda Jail on the basis of a report submitted by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department," an official spokesman said.

He said that there was a provision under which the chief minister can order the release of an undertrial if it has been settled that the case was 'fake'. The detailed probe in the case will continue, the spokesman said.

Earlier, while addressing a gathering at a function in Lucknow on her 55th birthday, Mayawati said the charges of theft on the girl, who was allegedly raped by Banda legislator Purushottam Dwivedi, "appeared to be part of a conspiracy of the MLA to hide his misdeed".

"A CB-CID probe in the matter is on and after its report, the state government will take stern action against the policemen and others involved in harassing the girl," the BSP leader said.

With a view to provide justice to the girl, Mayawati said that the state government would ensure hearing of the case in a fast-track court.

"No one will be allowed to take the law into his hand under the BSP government. Strict action will be initiated against all those, whosoever they are, who take the law into their hands," Mayawati said.

The release order was issued two days ahead of the hearing on bail application of the girl in a Banda court. She was arrested following a complaint filed by Dwivedi's brother at Attara police station in December, soon after she was allegedly raped by the ruling party legislator.

Earlier, on January 12, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh had claimed that the theft charge against the girl was genuine.

"Sheelu, before fleeing from the MLA's house on December 12, took a mobile phone of his daughter-in-law and Rs 5,000 in cash. She even made 150 calls from the mobile phone," he had told reporters.

"The theft case was correct and arrest justified," he had said. The continued incarceration of the girl had caused outrage among social activists while political parties also slammed it. The Congress had on Saturday said it was "absolutely outrageous that the victim is actually behind bars in a false case" while the Bharatiya Janata Party expressed shock at the way the Uttar Pradesh administration had handled the case.

Dwivedi, who represents Naraini seat in the UP assembly, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged criminal assault on the 17-year-old girl belonging to a backward community. The MLA was later sent to 14-day judicial remand by a chief judicial magistrate.

The girl was allegedly raped on December 10-11 last year at the legislator's residence. She escaped from the house on December 12 when the MLA allegedly attempted to rape her for a third time and was arrested on the same day on theft charges.

While the MLA's two aides -- Rajendra Shukla and Surendra Neta -- have been arrested, the third accused Ravan Garg is still absconding.