A senior lawyer and two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been booked by the Meerut police on Friday for the case of allegedly raping a minor girl. Reportedly the girl was raped on several occasions between February and May this year.
The minor reportedly worked at the advocate's office and a video had surfaced online showing the accused and the minor along with an unidentified woman who is being traced by the police now.
According to the reports, Meerut Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan said, “We have recorded the statement of the minor, under section 164 of the CrPC, before a Magistrate. An FIR has been registered. The unidentified woman has not filed any complaint in this regard yet."
Reportedly the accused lawyer has been expelled from the senior post in the Meerut Bar Association on June 12 after an emergency meeting was held and the Meerut Bar Association convened an emergency meeting. His membership to the association has also been cancelled, and reportedly the association is working to ensure that his licence to practice laws is also suspended soon.
Kunwar Pal Sharma, president of the Bar Association told the media, “The condemnable act of the lawyer concerned has maligned the image of advocates. We will ensure that he is not allowed to enter the Meerut court premises in any capacity in future. We hope the police will ensure that justice is delivered."
The minor in her statement to the police, has informed that it was from an advertisement in a local newspaper for the requirement of an assistant in the lawyer's office that she contacted him for the job.
According to the reports, the teenage minor told the police on Wednesday, ”I was appointed for a monthly salary. Just two-three days after I joined work in his office, I was asked by the lawyer to accompany him to his camp office at his residence on the pretext of finishing pending work. He raped me at his office at the house and filmed the act. He also threatened to share the video online if I refused to accompany him to parties and functions on several occasions. The lawyer and two BJP leaders used to physically exploit me whenever they got a chance at such parties.”
SSP Sajwan reportedly said, “A search is on for the accused. We have evidence against all three accused and a probe is on. Once we trace the [unidentified] woman, her statement will be added to the FIR.”
According to the reports, former chief of the Samajwadi Party’s Meerut unit, Rajpal Singh, said on Saturday, “Two leaders of a party that boasts of ‘chal, charitra aur chehra’ [Conduct, character and face]” have been booked on charges of raping a minor and also under the POCSO Act but no action has been taken yet. Was that party’s slogan of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ just an eyewash?”
