The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted parole for two days to BSP Member of Parliament from Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh Atul Rai, who has been accused in a rape case by a woman from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, for taking oath as Member of Parliament in New Delhi.
Rai who has been in jail after he surrendered in Varanasi on June 22 last year, has not yet been able to take oath as an MP because his bail plea was earlier denied by the high court.
While granting the two days parole, Justice Ramesh Sinha ordered that Atul Rai will go to the national capital on January 29 in police custody and the police will take him back into custody on January 31, after he takes oath as Member of Parliament.
The counsel appearing for the BSP MP had argued in court that the applicant could not take oath after being elected in the last years Lok Sabha polls as he was in jail on charges of rape.
His first bail application was rejected by the High Court that was now hearing his second bail plea.
In September 2019, fresh allegations were levelled against the BSP MP. The victim had then alleged that she and her family members were being constantly coerced and threatened to withdraw the case by the MP and his goons. She had then alleged that Atul Rai’s goons had been threatening her of dire consequences once Atul Rai is out of the jail. She said that they will make sure that her condition is worse than that of Unnao rape victim.
The victim said that she had even written about this to CJI, Rajan Gogoi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath soliciting help.
Interestingly, Atul Rai was on the run during the last year’s Lok Sabha elections and the SP-BSP coalition had continued campaigning for the absconding leader in hopes that the caste arithmetic would ensure his victory.
In his last video uploaded on Facebook on May 27 while he was still absconding, he thanked people for voting in favour of him and declared that he has been acquitted in the people’s court.
On May 2, 2019, Atul Rai was booked for the rape of a 30-year-old woman. The victim who was a native of Vallia had alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Rai in an apartment in Varanasi. Rai had then rejected the allegations and registered an FIR against the woman.
The victim had made charges of repeated rape, filming of the crime scene and threats to make the video public. She said that Rai had called her to his flat in Chitaipur locality in Varanasi in the pretext of introducing her to his wife, where he had raped her and made a video recording of the same. The woman alleged that she was forced to sleep with other BSP leaders.
Following the charges, Atul Rai had approached the Allahabad High Court seeking anticipatory bail, but the court had rejected the petition on May 8, 2019. Rai went missing since his name first emerged in the kidnapping and rape case, only to surrender before the Varanasi Magistrate on June 22, 2019, after which the court rejected his bail plea and send him to judicial custody.
