Rajasthan: Congress MLA’s son, four others booked for ‘gangrape’ of minor girl

Claiming that the Congress does not have the culture of shielding criminals, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party would take action after the investigation into the alleged crime.

“I want to assure everybody, whosoever you may be, the Congress party will not protect ‘Sengars’ of the world. You cannot, in the Congress party, trample farmers and remain Union Minister and cohabit with Narendra Modi ji (prime minister) and (Union home minister) Amit Shah Ji,” Surjewala said.

Former Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 for raping a girl while Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is one of the key accused in a case related to killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.

“The complainant has said in the FIR that the incident took place in February 2021. Five people have been booked in the case including Deepak Meena, the son of MLA Johari Lal Meena. One of the accused had been sent to jail in May last year after the police found his role in a theft case at the complainant’s house, “ said Dausa additional SP Lal Chand Kayal.

Kayal added that the complainant, a resident of the Alwar district, has claimed that she was taken to Dausa where she was gangraped.

“The complainant has said in her FIR that the person, who was jailed last year, took her to a hotel in Dausa where three persons raped her apart from two other men who were already present there. The MLA’s son is one of the accused. At the time when the person was sent to jail last year, the allegations related to gangrape were not leveled by the complainant. Following the theft, money worth Rs 15 lakh along with jewellery were recovered from the accused,” said Kayal.

“The complainant said that the accused also made a video of the gangrape and threatened her,” said the SHO of the police station where the case has been registered.

“A case has been registered for offences including gangrape and relevant sections of the IT Act, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and the POCSO Act,” the SHO added.

The victim and the MLA’s son are from the same community, said the SHO.

“So far no arrests have been made and investigation is on,” said Kayal.

Meena, the Congress MLA from Rajgarh-Laxmangarh in Alwar district, however, termed the rape allegations against his son as ‘politically motivated’.

“The case is absolutely false and baseless. It is a conspiracy to damage me politically as elections are near. These people shouldn’t act like this. Earlier too, they had registered an FIR that was found to be absolutely baseless and false,” the MLA told reporters.

The opposition BJP has slammed the ruling Congress government over the incident.

“Once again Rajasthan has been ashamed today. When allegations of rape are leveled against the son of Congress MLA, then not only does Rajasthan is ashamed but it raises questions on the law and order system of Rajasthan. It appears the rule of law has ended and miscreants are ruling now, which shows that the Congress gives political patronage to such offences. It is even more shameful that the Chief Minister is also the Home Minister of Rajasthan and he is more worried about saving his chair than to save the dignity of women,” said BJP state president Satish Poonia.

Back in 2019, a 38-year-old woman had lodged a rape case against the then 77-year-old MLA Meena. She had claimed in her FIR that Meena has also threatened and exploited her after filming a video of the act.

Meena had then also denied the allegations and termed them as ‘political conspiracy’.

With PTI inputs