Trying to defend his Pilibhit hate speeches,BJP candidate Varun Gandhi today claimed persecution of the local community where three girls had been raped. Gandhi spoke in Barkhera on March 8. The Indian Express has found that in all,seven cases of rape were reported at Barkhera police station last year and chargesheets were filed in four. Said Hari Ram Nagar,police officer in charge of the Barkhera police station who handled the seven cases: There wasno pattern on the basis of which these could becalled communal. Consider the case details,as per official records:* On April 4: Shyam Bihari Lal lodged an FIR against Yogendra Pal for kidnapping his girl. Later,on the basis of the victims statement,Yogendra was also charged with rape.* On May 4,a woman lodged an FIR against Babu Ram. She stated that he raped her while she was going to her field. * On July 17,a woman accused Sewak Ram of forcibly entering her house and raping her. Two women were named as accomplices.* On September 11,Krishan Devi accused Puttu Lal and Avneesh of kidnapping and alsoraping her daughter. In these cases,seven accused were arrested andsent to jail. Of the other three rape cases,the police expunged two and filed a final report in one. All three cases were lodged on the directive of court. But investigation showed that these were false cases,lodged to settle personal scores. In 2009,one rape case was lodged on January 7 on the courts order,three months after the alleged incident. The circle officer investigated the case,found it to be false and expunged it. In this case,too,the victim and the accused,both,were Hindus,said police officials. When asked about the rape reference in Gandhis speech, sitting Pilibhit MLA Sukhlal said he would not like to comment. He would obviously have some basis for what he has said, he said. Ashok Kumar Gupta,Barkheda Nagar Panchayat president,who belongs to the BJP,said there was no issue of rape in the area. Regarding Gandhis remark about persecution, Gupta said he could be referring to the murder of one Sunil Kumar on October 21. In that case,under the Beesalpur police station,five unidentified Muslims were accused. When the BJP members staged a protest on October 23,the partys former MLA Ram Saran Varma was arrested and he is still in jail under National Security Act, said Gupta. Beesalpur police station in charge Pervez Miyan said that Varma was arrested for damaging shops and forcing their closure. Meanwhile,there are two other cases pending in the Barkhera police station against Gandhi. On August 1,2008,bookseller Bharatveer Gangwar lodged a complaint of physical assault by Gandhi and his accomplices. They were passing by my house when their car was caught in a pothole. When they noticed the flag of Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan on my shop,they asked me to pull it down. I offered to put up their flag too,but they started abusing and beating me, Gangwar alleged. On December 16,2008,Beeche Maurya lodged an FIR against Gandhi and eight others for beating him up for flying a flag of Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan flag on the terrace of his house. Said the present in-charge of the Barkhera police station P K Dwivedi: A chargesheet was filed in the first case,a final report has been submitted in the second case.
