Days after conviction for rape, RJD MLA loses assembly membership

RJD strength in assembly came down to 79 from 81.BJP and the JD (U) have 53 and 70 MLAs, respectively, whereas Congress has 27 legislators in 243-member assembly.

Bihar Legislative Assembly on Wednesday terminated the membership of RJD’s Raj Ballabh Yadav, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a minor, with effect from December 15.

Convicted suspended RJD leader Raj Ballabh Yadav coming from court after the Civil Court sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection with the raping a minor girl, in Patna (Santosh KUmar/ HTPhoto)

Yadav is the second RJD MLA whose membership has been terminated in last two months.

With today’s development, the RJD’s strength in the state assembly has come down to 79 from 81.

In November, senior party MLA Illiyas Hussain, who was convicted and awarded five years’ imprisonment in multi-crore bitumen scam by a CBI court on September 27 this year, was disqualified from assembly.

BJP and the JD (U) have 53 and 70 MLAs, respectively, whereas Congress has 27 legislators in 243-member assembly.

On December 15, Yadav was convicted by a special court for raping a minor girl at his residence in February 2016. On December 21, he was awared life sentence in the case.

As per a notification issued by secretary of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Bateshwar Nath Pandey, membership of Yadav, who was RJD MLA from Nawada, stood terminated with effect from December 15.

Yadav has been awarded life imprisonment under sections 376 (rape) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Two others convicted in the case for criminal conspiracy and trafficking, Sulekha and her mother Radha Devi, were given life imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of ₹20,000 each. Three others were sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.

Yadav was considered a heavyweight in his constituency for his muscle power and support base among the Yadav voters.

Yadav, a three-time MLA, started his political journey in 1995 as an Independent legislator before joining the RJD in late 90s. Ballabh had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 parliamentary seat against sitting BJP MP Giriraj Singh. He was elected MLA in 2015 on RJD ticket.