Lalitpur minor rape: SP, BSP leaders among 7 arrested

Seven people, including the district presidents of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, have so far been arrested in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl in UP’s Lalitpur, the police said on Saturday (October 16).

Lalitpur Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak said that the arrests were made following the girl’s complaint that she was raped for five years. She had named 25 people in her complaint.

A case was registered at Sadar Kotwali police station on October 12 against 25 people, including the victim’s father and uncle, and three unknown persons.

The SP said a hotel in Mirzapur district was raided on Friday from where Tilak Yadav and Deepak Ahirvar, the SP and BSP district chiefs of Lalitpur respectively, and an engineer named Mahendra Dubey were arrested.

The three were produced before a local court, which sent them to 14-day judicial custody. Earlier, four people were arrested in connection with the case.

Also read: UP minor says father, Samajwadi, BSP leaders raped her

The Lalitpur police had filed an FIR last week on the basis of the complaint filed by the 17-year-old girl.

Police have booked the girl’s father, who is a truck driver, Samajwadi Party (SP) district president Tilak Yadav, SP city president Rajesh Jain Jojhiya, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) district president Deepak Ahirwar and others for rape and outraging modesty.

The girl told the police that she was in the sixth standard when her father first tried to lure her into a physical relationship by showing her obscene films, but she did not give in. One day, her father bought her a new dress and took her for a ride on a motorcycle, on the pretext of teaching her how to drive. He took her to a farm and raped her, and threatened to kill her mother if she said anything to anyone.

Some days later, Yadav handed her over to a woman, who got her into prostitution. In the years to come, she was raped by several men in hotel rooms. The rape survivor could not muster courage to speak out earlier because she was threatened with dire consequences.

(With inputs from Agencies)