Om Prakash Mishra, a special judge of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) court who had granted bail to rape accused SP leader Gayatri Prajapati on Tuesday, April 25, was suspended on Saturday, April 29.
The court has also ordered a departmental enquiry as to why Mishra granted bail to rape accused Prajapati, and his two accomplices Vikas Verma and Pintu Singh.
On April 25, Mishra had granted bail to former mining and transport minister on two personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh each. In February, a case was filed in the Gautampalli police station in Lucknow wherein Prajapati was accused of rape and also the violation of the Posco Act.
Prajapati and his associates Ashok Tiwari, Pintu Singh, Vikas Verma, Ashish Shukla, Rupesh and Chandrapal have been facing charges of gang-raping a woman from Bundelkhand at Prajapati's official residence. They have also been accused of molesting her minor daughter, lacing her tea with sedatives, clicking photographs of her being raped and blackmailing her. The harassment continued from 2014 till 2016.
When the UP police refused to file an FIR, the woman moved the Supreme Court, which directed the police to lodge a report. Since the FIR was lodged against him, Prajapati was on the run. Prajapati had been absconding since February 27, after he cast his vote in Amethi during the fifth phase of voting.
He was arrested on March 15, from the state capital, Lucknow and was sent to a 14-day judicial remand. Three of Prajapati's accomplices, including two of his sons, were also arrested from Noida for allegedly providing shelter to the absconding minister.
