BJP legislator’s murder: Mother of accused seeks probe in rape charges too

PATNA - The mother of teacher Rupam Pathak, who stabbed to death Bihar’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Raj Kishore Kesri for allegedly exploiting her sexually, Monday moved court to include the rape charges in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.

Kumud Mishra said that she has filed a plea in the Patna High Court requesting it to order inclusion of her daughter’s rape charges against Kesri in the probe.

“I pleaded that it was not proper to probe only the murder case and leave out the rape charges made by her. The court should order the CBI to include her charges also in the case,” she said.

Misra’s lawyer Dinesh Kumar told IANS that the court was also requested to monitor a probe by CBI into the case. “We have prayed for court monitoring of the case,” he said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar early this month ordered a CBI probe into the murder following a hue and cry by opposition and women organisations.

Pathak had alleged Kesri, 51, and his close colleagues had raped her for three years, a charge refuted by the party.

The teacher, aged around 40, went to Kesri’s home in Purnea Jan 4 and stabbed him to death in the presence of a number of people. She was badly beaten up by Kesri’s security guards and supporters following the murder.

A Bihar court Jan 6 sent Pathak to judicial custody for 14 days, officials said

Mishra said that she has already submitted a petition at the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the State Women’s Commission seeking justice for her daughter.

She has also petitioned the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women, as well as several other organisations working for democratic rights and justice.

Mishra, a resident of Brahmapur village in Naugachchia in Bhagalpur district, said she would demand an appointment with the chief minister to apprise him of the truth.

She said her daughter, who was a postgraduate in Hindi and also had a B.Ed degree, knocked the doors of many police officers but nobody helped her because of the political pressure. “Had justice been delivered to her, she would not have taken such action,” Mishra said.

She said her daughter was staying with her husband and two children in Manipur before she started a school in Purnea in 2006. Pathak’s husband is a principal at a public school in Imphal.