New Delhi: A witness in the alleged rape case involving former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has moved the Supreme Court seeking to handover the investigation to a central agency such as CBI or NIA and to transfer the case outside Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner Anshu Gaur, who is a prime witness in the said gang rape and POCSO case against Prajapati, claimed that even after his arrest attempts to threaten and coerce the witnesses did not stop.
“Petitioner kept running from pillar to post in the State of Uttar Pradesh, requesting for protection for himself as well as for the victims, who, due to their already disadvantaged position, were at a great risk of giving up their fight for justice, since they were being constantly subjected to a combination of extremely coercive tactics on one hand and enticements on the other,” the plea, filed through advocate Mehmood Pracha, said. The petition said that the cases deserve to be tried at a neutral venue, where the Court can function without fear, pressure or favour, as also the witness and other concerned parties can depose freely.
The plea has also sought directions that then minor victim be administered proper medical treatment and care, including psychological, away from the influence of the accused. In a jolt to Prajapati, the apex court has earlier stayed the Allahabad High Court’s order granting interim bail for a period of two months on medical grounds to him in a gang rape case. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 3 had granted the interim bail to Prajapati, who was a minister on the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government, on health grounds. However, despite the grant of bail, Prajapati could not come out of jail as he remained in judicial custody in a fresh case of fraud, forgery and criminal intimidation was registered against him.
Prajapati is in jail since March 15, 2017, and is currently undergoing treatment for various ailments at KGMU, Lucknow. He, along with others, is accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter.
The gang-rape case was lodged with Gautampalli police station in 2017 and later, Prajapati was arrested and sent to jail on March 15, 2017. He was earlier granted bail by a sessions court in the case but it was cancelled by the high court before his release from jail.
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