Ex-minister Prajapati gets bail in rape case

Lucknow, April 25

Former UP minister Gayatri Prajapati and two of his alleged accomplices were today granted bail by a POCSO court in connection with a rape case.

Special Judge of a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Court Om Prakash Mishra granted bail to Prajapati, Vikas Verma and Amrendra Singh (alias Mintu).

The court asked Prajapati to furnish two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each and a personal bond of the same amount. An FIR was registered against Prajapati and six others on February 17 on a Supreme Court directive.

Prajapati was then a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government. Yadav, when asked today about the bail granted to his former cabinet colleague, said, “It’s good that he got bail. Please tell me if there is anything wrong in it.”

After being on the run for a month, Prajapati (49) was arrested from the Aashiyana area on March 15 and was sent to jail for allegedly raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter in 2014. The six others had been arrested earlier. Prajapati had approached the SC to get a stay on his arrest. — PTI