POCSO court rejects Gayatri Prajapati's second bail plea

In a fresh jolt to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, a special court rejected his second bail application today in connection with a gang-rape case.

The judge of the special court for hearing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Uma Shanker Sharma, rejected the bail application moved on behalf of Prajapati.

This is the second time in less than 10 days that his bail plea has been turned down.

A Chitrakoot woman had accused the former minister and his accomplices of rape. She also alleged that the minister attempted to rape her minor daughter.
 

An FIR was lodged at Gautampalli police station in Lucknow after the Supreme Court's rebuke to the state police during the Akhilesh Yadav regime for not registering the case.

The court had allowed his first bail application, but the Allahabd High Court later cancelled it.

The high court, however, gave permission to Gayatri to file a fresh bail plea.

However, the POCSO judge today observed that if Prajapati was released on bail, he could tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses.

The POCSO court had on September 19 turned down the discharge application of Prajapati, declining to give him a clean chit in the case.

The judge had said the charges have been framed against the former minister and other co-accused as there was prima facie evidence to make them stand on trial and as such the order of framing charges against the accused cannot be reviewed under the CrPC.

Filing the application on September 12 on behalf of Gayatri, his lawyer had pleaded that the FIR in the case had been lodged after three years and that no offence from the evidence collected during the probe was made out under POCSO Act.

The application demanded that Prajapati be given clean chit in the case.

Public Prosecutor M K Singh had opposed the plea on the ground that the application was not maintainable because charges were already framed against him and other accused.

The court had reserved its order that day.

After the probe, the police had filed charge sheet against Gayatri and others under the charges of gang rape.

The high court had in April cancelled his bail smelling foul in the process of granting the bail by the previous judge of the special court, who retired from service just a day after allowing it.