Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirori Lal Meena, who led a statewide protest to force the Rajasthan government to take action in the Jaipur rape case, staged a disappearance drama on Thursday.
Keeping the government and his supporters in suspense for more than 12 hours, Meena surfaced in the evening, claiming, “Since I was asleep in a locked room at my house, my wife did not know about my whereabouts.”
State Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal said in a statement that Meena had been released at 5 am from Ajmer Central Jail on Thursday “on health grounds without signing a bond for bail”.
Although B.L. Soni, Inspector General of Police (Jaipur Range-I), also confirmed that Meena was taken back from Ajmer and dropped at his Jaipur residence in the morning, his wife and a former minister, Golma Devi, said, “My husband has not come home.”
In January 1997, a woman of the Meena community was allegedly abducted to Noida in Uttar Pradesh and raped by a former deputy inspector general of police of Rajasthan Police, Madhukar Tandon.
After the case surfaced 13 years later on Tuesday, Meena and his supporters launched statewide blockades and staged a sit-in outside Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence.
{{/usCountry}}After the case surfaced 13 years later on Tuesday, Meena and his supporters launched statewide blockades and staged a sit-in outside Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence.
{{/usCountry}}The state government sent Meena and 13 of his supporters to judicial custody early on Wednesday. While the state authorities were baffled by Meena’s disappearance, his supporters continued to block traffic at several places in eastern Rajasthan for the third day.
Traffic in Dausa, Karuali and Sawai Madhopur, including the National Highway 12, connecting Jaipur and Agra, remained chaotic.