SC dismisses Atul Rai’ s bail plea in the rape case
Dismissing the petition of newly-elected BSP MP Atul Rai, Supreme Court refused to grant protection from arrest in connection with a rape case.
Senior leader Rai, who already has 16 cases registered against him has stated in his petition that the FIR registered against him was ‘politically motivated’ in order to stop him from election campaigning and to sabotage his image.
1st time MP, Rai won from Ghosi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh by defeating BJP’s Harinarayan Rajbhar by 1.2 lakhs votes.
- A FIR was registered on May 1 against Rai in Varanasi in a rape case. The survivor in her complaint alleged him for sexually assaulting her.
- Seeking for an anticipatory bail and for quashing of the FIR registered against him, he actually approached the top bench.
- The bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose declined to entertain the petition. CJI on behalf of the bench said that “We dismiss the petition”.
There is a significant increase in the numbers and percentages of the members in the lower house charged with criminal cases against them. Atul Rai already being charged with several other cases is been allowed to file the nomination resulting in being elected and representing the constituency. According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), nearly 50% of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal charges against them. An increase of 26% is been analyzed as compared to 2014.
