india

Updated: Dec 15, 2018 23:51 IST

A special Patna court on Saturday convicted Nawada member of legislative assembly (MLA) Raj Ballabh Yadav of raping a schoolgirl at his residence in February 2016. Five others were convicted along with him.

Apart from Yadav, who was suspended from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) a week after the incident, the others convicted are Radha Devi, her daughter Sulekha Devi, Tusi Devi, her granddaughter Chhoti Devi, and Sumit Suman alias Pushpanjay. They were accused of supplying women and girls to the legislator.

Special member of Parliament (MP) & MLA court judge Parshuram Yadav convicted the MLA under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012. The co-accused were convicted under IPC section 120(B).

According to the 205-page charge-sheet filed by Bihar police on April 20, 2016, Sulekha lured the girl from Bihar Sharif saying they were going for a birthday party but took her to Yadav’s residence in Pathra English locality of Nawada where she was violated and brutalized. After she reached home in a semi-conscious state, her family members lodged an FIR against the politician on February 8, 2016.

The court will fix the quantum of punishment on December 21, special public prosecutor Shyameshwar Dayal said. The prosecution would press for maximum sentence as the MLA hatched a criminal conspiracy to rape the minor girl, he added.

On December 3, special court judge Parshuram Singh Yadav reserved his order after completing hearings in the case. Yadav had surrendered before the special court on March 10, 2016, fearing confiscation of his properties. He evaded arrest for about a month after a first information report (FIR) was registered.

(With agency inputs)