Rape accused BSP MP takes oath in LS

New Delhi, Jan 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) Released on parole, Atul Kumar Singh, an MP from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), on Friday took oath as a member of the Lok Sabha after the House assembled to begin the Budget session 2020.

Singh, also known by his alias Atul Rai, could not take oath earlier as he was jailed since June last year over allegations of rape by a woman who had alleged that she was repeatedly raped by the politician and that he filmed her and threatened her with the video.

He took the oath in the Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court allowed him parole. The newly-elected Member of Parliament from Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh has been in jail since he surrendered in June last year after the Uttar Pradesh police issued a lookout alert for him at airports, amid reports that he had fled to Malaysia.

The MP surrendered on June 22 as the Allahabad High Court refused to give him protection from arrest. The Allahabad High Court had also granted him two-day parole for his oath in Parliament after his lawyer pleaded that he had not been sworn in since his election.

The same court had rejected his bail earlier. Singh travelled to Delhi in police custody on Thursday and will return to jail again on Friday. The MP contested last year's Lok Sabha election from Ghosi while evading arrest after the allegations emerged. He defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Harinarayan Rajbhar with a margin of 1,22, 568 votes. His party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav both campaigned for him even while he was MLA and urged people to elect him.

Mayawati has alleged that Singh was a "victim" of a conspiracy by the BJP.

Source: IANS