The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain the absconding senior Samajwadi Party leader and Gayatri Prajapati’s plea against the court's earlier order to of registering an FIR against him in connection with a gangrape and sexual harassment case.
The apex court said that Prajapati could go for legal remedies when a non-bailable warrant is issued. The court added that for now only a FIR has been ordered.
"Our order is only the registration of FIR, nothing else. Let the police investigate and report to us. We never ordered arrest. If an NBW (Non-Bailable Warrant) is issued, you have your remedies," the court told the lawyer of Prajapati.
Earlier, the apex court had directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to file a status report in the case within a period of eight weeks.
Yesterday, Governor Ram Naik asked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav that why the tainted minister has not been sacked.
“A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Prajapati after an FIR was registered against him in rape case. Serious question of constitutional morality and dignity arise on his remaining in the cabinet,” the Governor said in a letter to Akhilesh seeking his "justification on retaining the minister".
The Governor said, it has also come to his notice that the CM himself has asked the minister to surrender but he has not done so till now and is absconding. There are apprehensions that he might have fled to some foreign country, he said.
On Saturday, passport of the rape-accused UP minister was impounded, a look-out notice issued and airports alerted. The UP Police had claimed that it was conducting raids across the state to trace the absconding minister.
The UP Police has registered an FIR against Prajapati for allegedly gang-raping a woman and molesting her minor daughter with his aides. The FIR was filed recently following a directive of the Supreme Court.
Taking a dig at the Samjawadi Party government for shielding Prajapati, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election meeting in Jaunpur on Saturday said, "In this country, when we do something good, we chant the Gayatri Mantra. But, the SP-Congress alliance is chanting the 'Gayatri Prajapati Mantra’.
"A case has been lodged against him (but) the chief minister went to campaign for him while he (Gayatri) was present there...Now, the police cannot trace him," Modi said.
"A daughter is seeking justice and the chief minister is shielding the gunehgaar (guilty)... What bigger blot can there be than this that in Uttar Pradesh when a buffalo goes missing, the government runs to find it.
