The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday granted two months' interim bail to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati on medical grounds in connection with a gang rape case. Granting bail, the court said the threat to the ex-minister from COVID-19 was real and imminent.
It also said that Prajapati was asked by doctors to get treated at a super-specialty hospital as he was suffering from various diseases and proper treatment was not available at KGMU. The court directed him to furnish two sureties of Rs 2 lakh each and a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh for his release. Prajapati is in jail since March 15, 2017 and is currently undergoing treatment for various ailments at KGMU.
He, along with others, is accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter The court directed him to surrender before the trial court or jail superintendent after the expiry of two months' bail. The order was passed by Justice Ved Prakash Vaish on the second bail application moved on Prajapati's behalf.
While granting bail, the court imposed various conditions on him. It directed the former minister to surrender his passport and told him not leave the country without prior permission of the trial court. It also directed him not to threaten the prosecutrix and her family, and not to coerce prosecution witnesses. Arguing Prajapati's bail plea, his lawyers Rukmini Bobde and SK Singh pleaded that he was innocent and falsely implicated in the case. It was also stated that statements of the prosecutrix and a doctor were recorded before the trial court in which they did not support the prosecution's case.
Lastly, the lawyers submitted that Prajapati was suffering from serious ailments of which no treatment was available in jail hospital or KGMU. The lawyers demanded that Prajapati be released for a short period to avail medical treatment. Opposing the plea, the state government counsel said that Prajapati was being given adequate medical treatment .
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the judge granted two months' bail to Prajapati. The gang rape case was lodged with Gautampalli police station in 2017 . Thereafter, Prajapati was arrested and sent to jail on March 15, 2017. He was earlier granted bail by a sessions court in the case but it was cancelled by the high court before his release from jail.
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