A local court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday saw sufficient reason for a prima facie case against ruling Bahujan Samaj Party member of legislative assembly P N Dwivedi, who was accused of raping a minor girl.Taking cognisance of a hand-written statement given by the victim, Banda Civil Judge Pervez Akhtar asked the superintendent of police to investigate the case and submit a report by January 14.The victim, who is 17 years old, was allegedly gang-raped by the MLA.
His disqualification to participate in future elections may follow, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
The court also refused to suspend the conviction in the case until the appeals were decided.
The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai.
The apex court gave a month-long deadline to the government to determine the responsibility for security failure in the horrific attack in which 147 people, 132 of them children, were killed when Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants stormed the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.