Order on charges in rape case against BSP MP Feb 24

A court here Tuesday fixed Feb 24 for delivering its order on framing of charges against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh in a rape case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sarita Birbal, after hearing the argument on charges by police and defence counsel, posted the matter for order Feb 24.

Delhi Police Jan 31 filed a charge sheet in a court here against Dhananjay Singh for allegedly repeatedly raping a 42-year-old married railway employee for nearly four years.

The Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur constituency was charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offence), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Police said Dhananjay Singh repeatedly raped the woman between July 2005 and March 2009, but his defence counsel S.P.M. Tripathi denied the charges.

According to the complaint filed by the woman, she was allegedly raped several times by the MP at gunpoint and was threatened with dire consequences if she reported the matter, police said.

Police said the husband of the woman was a businessman and known to Dhananjay Singh and through him, she first met the parliamentarian in February 2005.

Dhananjay Singh and his wife Jagriti, a dental surgeon at a government hospital, are in jail after they were arrested in November last year in connection with their maid's torture and murder case.