Banda girl wants tormentor MLA to be hanged

"I want that he should be hanged," the 17-year-old said, a day after she walked free yesterday from Banda district jail, about 220 km from Lucknow, where the rape accused Purshottam Naresh Dwiwedi, 48, was also lodged.

She alleged that the policemen assaulted her in the presence of the MLA`s brother. "The policemen there beat me up. His (MLA`s) brother Raja was sitting right there in front."

The teenager was released following a direction from Chief Minister Mayawati, who faced severe embarrassment over the incident involving her party MLA and the Allahabad High Court ordered that the girl be "released forthwith from jail unconditionally" and "adequate security" be provided to the alleged victim and her family.

Mayawati ordered the dalit girl`s release on the basis of a probe by CBI-CID which found the allegations levelled against her to be untrue and said action will be taken against policemen involved in harassing the minor who was charged with theft apparently as part of a "conspiracy" after she was allegedly raped by Dwiwedi.

The girl said she was living in fear. "I am very afraid. I want that I should be given a safe place to live," she said.

Sub-inspector Jabbar Ahmad was yesterday suspended for manhandling the girl during her detention in the police station.

The girl alleged that Ahmed refuse to take her statement. "He only took the version of the MLA," she said.

The victim said she was confident that she would get justice now.

The release order was issued two days ahead of the hearing on bail application of the girl in a Banda court.

The girl was arrested on December 12 on charges of committing theft at the MLA`s residence.

She later alleged she was raped twice by the MLA on December 10 and 11 and stuck to her allegations in a statement made before a local court on January 10 after which it ordered police to take immediate legal action.

"The chief minister has ordered the release of the girl currently lodged in Banda Jail on the basis of a report submitted by the CB-CID," an official spokesman said in Lucknow yesterday. He said there was a provision under which the Chief Minister can order release of an undertrial if it has been settled that the case was "fake".