Bihar: Woman lawyer accuses RJD leader, IAS officer of gang-raping her

Patna, Feb 4 (IANS) A woman lawyer of Allahabad High Court, on Friday, threatened to immolate herself with her three-year-old son outside the Supreme Court if action is not taken against the two men, who allegedly gang-raped her for years.

The victim, Gayatri Singh claimed that she was sexually assaulted by RJD MLA Gulab Singh and senior IAS officer Sanjiv Hans, secretary in the energy department of Bihar government.

While interacting with mediapersons in Patna, the victim said that she came in contact with Gulab Singh, then sitting MLA of Jhanjharpur in February 2016, in a chamber of a senior lawyer of Patna High Court.

"Gulab Yadav called me to submit a job application in his official residence for a membership post in the state women commission in February 2016. When I went there, he took me inside the Bangalow and raped me on gun point. When I retaliated and threatened to go to the police, he asked his aide Lalit to get vermilion and put it on my head and said that you are my wife," the victim said.

"After that incident, Gulab Yadav convinced me that he would take divorce his first wife and marry me. He had also taken 7 to 8 months for divorce proceedings. I fell for his false promise," the victim said.

"In July 2016, Gulab Singh asked me to reach Westin hotel in Pune. When I went there, Sanjiv Hans was already there. They offered soft drinks which I consumed and fell unconscious. When I gathered consciousness next morning, they showed me a video clip of them gang-raping me. They threatened to upload this video on social networking platforms if I approached the police. On the basis of the video clip, they blackmailed me and gang-raped several times in the hotels of Delhi, Patna and other places," the victim said.

"Due to sexual assault, I conceived in 2017. They forced me to abort the child. I did the same in a nursing home in Allahabad. Even after the abortion, the exploitation continued. I became pregnant again in 2018. The duo again pressured me to abort the child which I refused. I realised that they were using me for sexual gratification," she said.

Gulab Singh threatened her with dire consequences saying that they both were powerful enough to influence police administration and judiciary if she went against them. They would prevent her from registering FIR or any other legal proceeding, she said.

"I gave birth to a baby boy in 2018. Now, I need his birth certificate for admission in school," she said.

When the lawyer contacted Gulab Singh, he said that he had already undergone vasectomy a few years ago. Hence, he would not have fathered the child. When she called Sanjiv Hans, he refused to take her calls, she said.

"I finally contacted Patna police to register an FIR against them which the police refused. I finally reached the lower court of Danapur and filed a petition against them seeking DNA test of Gulab Singh and Sanjiv Hans to ascertain the biological father of my child," the victim said.

"I have been running from pillar to post to get justice for the past several months but no one is helping me. Gulab Singh said that he would not allow legal proceedings and it is happening with me. The lower court of Danapur directed the Patna police to submit the report in the court but the officials of Patna police are not cooperating with me," she said.

"Patna police called me to register a statement in the Secretariat police station on Wednesday. They recorded my statement in front of ASP Kamya Mishra but she has not given assurance about when Patna police would submit my statement in court," the victim stated.

When IANS contacted ASP Kamya Mishra, she received the call but refused to comment.

"It came to my knowledge that a woman lawyer filed a case against me. She has also recorded her statement in the secretariat police station. The complaint is completely false and baseless. Anyone can go to the court and level allegations against any person. I have complete faith in the judiciary. The truth will come out soon," Gulab Singh told IANS.

"Why did she wait for 6 years after the incident. Her move is politically motivated especially at the time of elections," he said, while hinting towards contesting the upcoming MLC election.

When IANS tried to contact contact Sanjiv Hans, his phone was switched off.