BSP leader, supporters booked for assaulting woman

LUCKNOW - A leader of Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and five of his supporters have been booked for allegedly tying up a woman and beating her till she fell unconscious in a village in Aligarh district. The government Friday denied the BSP leader had a role in disrobing the woman.

Moolchand Baghel, president of the BSP’s Aligarh unit, and his five supporters roughed up a 45-year-old woman in Chandaukha village Thursday after she objected to their lewd remarks, a police official said Friday.

“According to eyewitnesses, the hands and the legs of the women were tied and she was later beaten up publicly… They continued to assault the woman till she became unconscious and fell on the ground,” Deputy Superintendent of Police O.P. Singh told reporters in Aligarh, some 400 km from Lucknow.

The woman, who was admitted to hospital, is now out of danger, police claimed.

Labelling the woman as “mentally challenged”, an official spokesman termed newspaper reports in this regard as “false, concocted and baseless”. He also claimed the woman was involved in a criminal case in which she was released on bail by a local court.

“When the woman herself has not levelled any allegation about being disrobed, how could anybody be charged of disrobing her?” he asked.

“It appears that the allegation against the BSP leader was politically motivated,” he said.

Giving details of the incident, he claimed: “The woman kicked up a fight with supporters of local district BSP president Mool Chand Baghel over a pending claim of Rs.5,000 from him.”

“The woman got violent, with the result that a scuffle ensued between two groups, following which she suffered some injuries, but she was not stripped.”

Singh said: “A criminal case under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered late Thursday evening against the BSP leader and five others.”

Of the six booked for manhandling the woman, police have managed to arrest only one.

“The BSP leader and four others are absconding. We have constituted teams to nab them,” said Singh.