SP leader held on charge of molesting minor, BJP slams SP
Based on the complaint, an FIR has been lodged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act. The accused has been arrested, and further legal proceedings are underway.
KANPUR: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former block pramukh Nawab Singh was arrested late Sunday night on charges of molesting a minor. Singh faces charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, along with other sections related to molestation, the police said in a statement. The incident has triggered a fresh round of sparring between the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party, following the recent Ayodhya gang-rape case.
According to the police, the minor girl had accompanied her aunt to Singh’s degree college on Sunday night, where he allegedly called her to discuss a job opportunity at a medical college. It is reported that after the aunt temporarily left the location, Singh not only molested the girl but also undressed her. When the aunt returned, she intervened and informed the police. “Taking cognisance of the call, the local police and PRV teams immediately reached the spot. The girl was rescued and was sent for medical examination while the accused, who was in an objectionable condition, taken into custody,” SP Kannauj Amit Kumar Anand said.
“Based on the complaint, an FIR has been lodged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act. The accused has been arrested, and further legal proceedings are underway,” he told reporters.
The incident has also led to a political row, with the BJP hitting out at the Samajwadi Party with the claim that the accused has once been a close affiliate of senior party leader Dimple Yadav, when she was the Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj. The SP, however, has distanced itself from the row, saying the accused, Nawab Singh Yadav, is no longer a party worker.
The arrest has triggered a fresh round of sparring between the ruling BJP and the principal opposition party, the Samajwadi Party, just as the war of words had subsided over the Ayodhya gang-rape case. On July 30, the Ayodhya police arrested Moid Khan, a local Samajwadi Party leader and bakery owner, along with his employee Raju Khan, in connection with the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl.
Launching a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party, senior BJP leader and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya posted on X: “Once again, the SP’s real face has been exposed in Kannauj after Ayodhya. The SP is a refuge for all kinds of criminals. It’s difficult to count the number of criminals in the SP. Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, the pawn of Congress, will you now talk about the DNA test or PDA? Make the SP the Samaptwadi Party and save UP.”
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi sought to equate the Kannauj incident with that of recent Ayodhya rape case involving a minor girl. Tripathi said, “Nawab Singh Yadav is not only a small leader of SP, but he has also been (former) MP Dimple Yadav’s representative.” “Samajwadi Party has always covered up such crimes under the policy that boys are boys and they make mistakes (’ladke hai, ladko se galti ho jaati hai). First, it was Moid Khan of Ayodhya and Nawab Yadav of Kannauj. This is the real character of the SP, “ he said.
Former MP and BJP leader Subrat Pathak condemned the molestation attempt by Nawab Singh. “The incident reflects poorly on the character of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders. Nawab Singh is known to have been a local representative for Dimple Yadav, who has served as MP from Kannauj twice and is very close to Akhilesh Yadav,” he said.
When contacted, Samajwadi Party’s Kannauj unit president Kaleem Khan said Yadav at present was not a member of the party.
He said that Nawab Singh Yadav had been involved in anti-party activities for the past five years and was no longer even a primary member of the party. “He is being referred to as an SP leader to malign the party,” he added.
Counter-attacking the BJP, senior SP leader and spokesperson Udaiveer Singh said, “The local unit of the SP has clarified that the accused has not been associated with our party since 2017. He has been working against the SP and was not even a primary member. In fact, he was a classmate of former BJP Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak and has been receiving support from him. There are two factions of the BJP operating in Kannauj—one led by Subrat Pathak and the other by a BJP MLA from Kannauj. The accused was aligned with the Pathak faction.”
Earlier, when the Ayodhya gang-rape incident surfaced, the sparring between the BJP and the SP even drew BSP chief Mayawati into the fray, as she attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav over his demand for a DNA test in the case.