VARANASI Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Duddhi assembly constituency, Ramdular Gond, was held guilty by a local court in UP’s Sobbhadra district on Tuesday in a nine-year-old rape case of a minor girl. He was taken into custody by the police.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on December 15, said the victim’s counsel Vikas Shakya.
In November 2014, a case was registered against Gond at Myorpur police station under sections 376 (rape) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC and relevant sections of Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual offences) Act, based on a complaint by the kin of a teenage girl of a village in Myorpur area.
The family had filed the complaint alleging that Gond sexually assaulted the girl when she went to attend nature’s call in a field on the outskirts of the village. At that time, Ramdular Gond was not an MLA.
After registering the case, the police arrested Gond and sent him to jail in 2014. After spending about three months in jail, he was released after being granted bail by court. The police investigated the matter and filed the charge sheet in court. The trial of the case was going on in the Pocso court.
Gond joined the Samajwadi Party, but later quit the party and joined the BJP. In the 2022 assembly election, he contested as a BJP candidate and was elected MLA. After his election as MLA in 2022, the matter was transferred to the MP-MLA court that heard the matter and the hearing was completed in November.
{{/usCountry}}Gond joined the Samajwadi Party, but later quit the party and joined the BJP. In the 2022 assembly election, he contested as a BJP candidate and was elected MLA. After his election as MLA in 2022, the matter was transferred to the MP-MLA court that heard the matter and the hearing was completed in November.
{{/usCountry}}The (MP-MLA) court of additional district judge (I) Ahsanullah Khan convicted Gond in the case, said advocate Shakya, adding the court fixed December 15 for pronouncing the quantum of punishment. Shakya said the police took the MLA into judicial custody on the orders of the court.