Yet another BSP MLA has been accused of allegedly raping a minor girl belonging to the Nishad community. To make matters worse, it is the “gulabi gang, a group of woman activists in the region, which has decided to take up cudgels on behalf of the victim and fight against the offender.
According to the victim, she had approached the BSP MLA from Nareni, Purshottam Naresh, for help after her mother died in October.
The MLA reportedly detained the girl in his house and raped her for several days.
The girl also alleged that when she threatened to expose the legislator, he got the police to arrest her for stealing the MLA’s licensed rifle and `2 lakhs.
The girl narrated her plight to her family members and others when she was brought by the police to the district court in Banda on Monday.
Weeping bitterly, the girl told the local reporters, “I was severally beaten by the MLA’s goons when I threatened to expose his deeds. He also said that I would rot in jail if I exposed him and my father would have to bear the consequences too.”
The gulabi gang, a group of women (mostly from backward castes) that dresses in pink saris, has now decided to take up the case of the minor girl and bring the legislator to book.
“The girl’s father, Achche Lal, has approached us and we will do all that is possible to help the victim and bring the offender down on his knees. These powerful people think we have no self respect. We will now teach them a lesson. If the government tries to save the MLA, we will go to any length to get justice for the girl,” warned Sampat Pal, the leader of Gulabi Gang that has already unleashed terror in the Bundelkhand region with its confrontational ways.
Other woman activists in Banda district have already embarked on an indefinite fast against the police inaction and are demanding the MLA’s arrest.
“The MLA must be arrested without delay and kept in jail,’’ said Ratanmala Kashyap, an activist. Opposition parties are also up in arms demanding action against the MLA.
Purshottam Naresh denied the allegation and termed it as a conspiracy by his political opponents to tarnish his image.
“The allegation is politically motivated and smacks of a political conspiracy,’’ he claimed.
The BSP, meanwhile, was tightlipped over the incident and a senior party functionary said that the party would first conduct it own inquiry into the incident and then decide its future course of action.