BSP MP Dhananjay Singh on Monday was put on trial by a Delhi court for allegedly raping a 42-year- old woman for nearly four years. Additional Sessions Judge Sarita Birbal framed charges against Singh under various provisions of the IPC relating to rape, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation.
The court has fixed April 1 for commencement of trial in the case by recording of statements of prosecution witnesses. In its charge sheet, police has arraigned 13 persons, including three doctors, as prosecution witnesses. It also dismissed the bail plea of Singh on the ground that he can influence the witnesses.
Earlier, during arguments on framing of charges against Singh, a sitting MP from Jaunpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, police had said they had the evidence which showed the involvement of the accused in the crime. It had said the forensic and medical reports of the victim corroborated the statement given by her before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
The police had said the victim has given all the details of the incident in her statement under 164 CrPC. Senior advocate Hariharan and advocate S P M Tripathi, who appeared for Singh, had said there were inconsistency and improvement in the statement of the alleged victim and police cannot solely rely on her statement.
The charge sheet was filed against Singh for offences under various penal provisions of the IPC, including 376(2)(h) (rape knowing that a woman is pregnant) and 376 (2)(n) (repeatedly raping the same woman), 377 (unnatural offence), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506(criminal intimidation).
The complaint was filed against Singh by the woman after the MP and his wife Jagriti Singh, a dental surgeon at a government hospital, were arrested last November in connection with their maid's murder in which charge sheet was recently filed.
In the charge sheet against Singh in the rape case, police alleged that he had repeatedly raped the woman between July 2005 and March 2009. Referring to the complaint filed by the woman, police had alleged the victim was raped several times by Singh at gunpoint and was threatened with dire consequences if she reported the matter.
They had also said the husband of the complainant was a businessman and was known to Singh and through him, she had first met the accused in February 2005.
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