Court acquits ex-MP in rape case

A court here Friday acquitted former MP Dhananjay Singh of the charges of raping and criminally intimidating a woman.

Additional Sessions Judge Sarita Birbal acquitted Singh after the woman who filed the rape complaint against him turned hostile, saying the MP had not sexually assaulted her.

Singh, a former Bahujan Samaj Party MP from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, was accused of rape by the 42-year-old married woman, a railway employee.

The judge said the final judgement will be pronounced as the woman had denied the charges.

The woman told the court that Singh did no wrong to her and she deposed against him in the presence of a magistrate under pressure from relatives.

Facing trial for rape, causing hurt and criminal intimidation, Singh was chargesheeted Jan 31 for allegedly and repeatedly raping the woman between July 2005 and March 2009.

According to the complaint by the woman, the BSP leader allegedly raped her at gunpoint and threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter to police.