New Delhi: At a time when former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar is an accused in the Unnao gangrape of a minor, in which the victim and her lawyer later also suffered grievous injuries in a road accident, and another party MLA in Goa, Atanasio Monserrate, has been accused of drugging and raping a 16-year-old girl, the Bahujan Samaj Party has brought the spotlight on itself by giving a ticket to a man suspected of raping two minors – one of whom was a Muslim and another a Dalit.

BSP decision takes focus away from BJP’s criminality

While the issue of the involvement of BJP legislators in crimes against women could have been used by Mayawati’s party, which enjoys vast support among both Dalits and Muslims, in the Haryana assembly elections, it appears to have scored a self-goal by giving a ticket to Chaudhary Tayyab Hussain from Hathin. Hussain was recently investigated by the police in connection with criminal assaults on two girls.

Soon after Hussain’s name was announced, a news portal reported the emergence of a tape in which he is alleged to have spoken to a woman about his past crimes. In the case of the Dalit girl, the family had not pressed charges against the accused and she is later suspected to have died by suicide.

Conversation refers to both incidents

The BSP leader was, however, booked by the police in connection with the rape and abduction of the minor Muslim girl in Palwal area of southern Haryana in 2016. In the audiotape, which the portal said was submitted before a sessions court during the rape case proceedings, he was stated to have spoken about this case.

In the tape, it was reported that Hussain, while speaking to a friend, discussed his sexual encounter with the minor Dalit girl as well. The victim is suspected to have later ended her life.

Though the tape was not taken too seriously by the concerned court its contents have shaken up the state’s politics. The BSP candidate reportedly also passed derogatory comments against the Dalit girl. He is said to have claimed that “”he did not have intercourse with her because of her caste” but went on to add that he had developed close relations with the minor girl.

Also read: Court Frames Charges Against Goa BJP MLA Monserratte in Rape Case

Though the Dalit girl’s case was not registered by the police since the family did not file a complaint, Hussain was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for the alleged rape and assault on the Muslim girl in 2016.

In this case, it was stated that she was abducted while she was abducted by Hussain and later raped in his office. She had also accused the BSP candidate of conspiring with her uncle and selling her father’s land. The girl was recovered from Seelampur in Delhi after about eight months.

Muslim girl’s family did not compromise, moved high court

One of her paternal cousins was quoted by India Today TV as saying that Hussain later forced the family to settle the matter. “Tayyab Hussain abducted my uncle’s minor daughter and took her to Delhi. She was recovered from Seelampur by Delhi Police. Tayyab Hussain is a strongman. He has forced my uncle and my cousin to reach a compromise,” the victim’s cousin was quoted as saying.

However, the family decided to pursue the case to its logical end and moved the Punjab and Haryana high court. The court later directed the police to take DNA samples from Hussain and match them with the samples collected from the victim’s clothes.

Also read: BJP Leader Expresses Sympathy for Rape-Accused MLA Kuldeep Sengar

BSP claimed Hussain received ‘clean chit’, did not specify details

Coming to the defence of the BSP candidate, the state party unit president Prakash Bharti went on record saying that the matter was investigated by a Special Investigation Team and that Hussain got a “clean chit” from the high court.

Though Bharti also claimed that his party had a copy of the court order, the portal said he did not share it with them.

Hussain’s affidavit, in which the copy of the order should be present, has still not been uploaded on the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer’s website.

For his part, Hussain told the portal that he has been cleared of all charges. “Police investigated the matter. The matter was cancelled. All the information is given,” he claimed, without elaborating on the documents and where they have been submitted.