UP BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi, six others named in rape case

National

Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi has been named in a rape case filed by a woman, who said she was raped in 2017. The complaint was filed earlier in February this year. The complainant said she had been held captive in a hotel and was raped successively for almost a month.

District Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh told media that the woman was tortured as well. She told police that she became pregnant after the assault and had to forcibly undergo an abortion by the rapists. Police said the woman, aged around 40, had filed the complaint against Tripathi’s nephew initially for raping her after promising to marry her. It was only later that the woman named Tripathi and six others as rapists.
The SP told PTI that the complainant’s statement was recorded before a magistrate and has been taken up for further investigation. The team investigating the case is working under SP Ram Badan Singh.

This is the third high profile case involving a BJP functionary from Uttar Pradesh. Unnao MLA Kuldeep Sengar and former Union MoS Chinmayanand are the other 2. The case against Sengar is that he raped a minor in 2017 and the father of the victim died in police custody. Following widespread outrage, the case was transferred out of UP to Delhi and in December 2019, a Delhi court sentenced Sengar to serve time till his death. Chinmayanand is alleged to have raped a student in one of his trust-run colleges. He is out on bail.