BJP MLA gets interim pre-arrest bail in POCSO case

During the hearing in the court of District and Sessions Judge on Monday, Senior Advocate Ajay Kochhar, representing the BJP leader, submitted that there were inconsistencies in the statement of the woman who had also lodged a complaint in 2024, with different charges.

The counsel argued that the case was politically motivated and meant to malign the image of the MLA.

“We submitted that the woman lodged the FIR mentioning an alleged offence taken place in 2021 only after she learnt that adverse proceedings were initiated against her because she had misled the state machinery in an earlier FIR registered against the MLA. The woman had earlier accused the MLA of harassing her on social media but had later retracted her statement. Police had filed a cancellation report in the case against the MLA mentioning that the woman retracted from her earlier statement,” Kochhar told The Indian Express.

“The court accepted our submission and instructed the MLA to cooperate with the investigation agency. The court will next hear the case on November 22,” he added.

During the hearing, the Chamba police, through the public prosecutor, submitted that the suspect is a high-profile person and his custodial interrogation is required.

A police officer, part of the team investigating the matter, said, “The woman, in her statement recorded under Section 183 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, has said that Raj was serving as Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha when the alleged incident took place. She also disclosed the place where the alleged crime took place. Further investigation is on”.

The woman, who belongs to a minority community, had last year accused the MLA of sending her explicit messages on social media and demanding her nude photographs. The police later filed a closure report in the case after the woman retracted her statement.

On November 2 this year, however, the woman uploaded a video on social media accusing the MLA and his associates of harassing her father, and pressuring her to withdraw her complaint.

On November 6, two associates of Hans Raj, including his personal assistant, were booked for kidnapping and intimidation at the woman’s father’s complaint. The next day, the police booked the MLA under POCSO Act on the woman’s complaint.

The MLA, who had served as Deputy Speaker from 2017 to 2022, had denied the allegations against him, claiming that they were politically motivated and aimed at inciting communal hatred.