Lucknow, Nov 10 (IANS) A special court in Lucknow on Wednesday pronounced former UP minister Gayatri Prajapati guilty in a gang rape case.
Two of his associates, Ashok Tiwari and Ashish Shukla, have also been convicted.
Judge Pawan Kumar Rai of a special MP/MLA court in Lucknow held Prajapati guilty of gang rape charges in the case under Sections 482/378/407 of the Indian Penal Code.
The quantum of punishment will be announced on Friday.
In this case, seven people, including Prajapati, were charged.
A woman from Chitrakoot had accused former Samajwadi Party minister and his friends of gang rape. The woman also alleged that the accused forcibly had physical intercourse with her minor daughter.
On the directions of the Supreme Court, an FIR was lodged against Prajapati and six other accused on February 18, 2017. All of them were charged with gang rape, threat to life, and violating the POCSO Act.
Apart from Prajapati, Vikas Verma, Amarendra Singh, Chandrapal, Rupeshwar, Shukla, and Tiwari were also charged in this case.
Prajapati and the other accused were arrested and imprisoned after the FIR was filed.
The Muslim side, on the last day of hearing in the Ayodhya title dispute on Wednesday, refuted the Hindu side's claim that the observation of a District Judge in 1886 was in their favour.
"Out of the 400 odd items that the industry makes, only one item - a single sound cracker - has been approved by PESO till date as the 'green' cracker for manufacture," the fire cracker maker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IANS.
Intense back channel exercise by Indian side is underway to arrange a meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistani coounterpart Imran Khan, a Pakistan media report claimed on Tuesday.
Charanjeet Singh and Sanjeev were shot at Trenz by 3-4 militants around 7.30 pm, police said. They were taken to the district hospital in Pulwama in a critical condition, where Charanjeet succumbed to his injuries.
