BSP lawmaker Atul Rai acquitted in 2019 rape case

A special court for MPs/MLAs in Varanasi on Saturday acquitted Member of Parliament Atul Rai in a three-year-old rape case. Mr. Rai, Lok Sabha member from the Ghosi parliamentary seat, belongs to the Bahujan Samaj Party. He will remain at Naini prison in Allahabad as other cases are still pending against him.

The case against the Lok Sabha member had been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by a former student in the Lanka police station in Varanasi on May 1, 2019. Mr. Rai absconded after the case was registered and surrendered after winning the Lok Sabha polls. The Lok Sabha member has been lodged at Naini Central Jail in Allahabad since June 2019. Mr. Rai was granted special parole in January 2020 to take oath as a parliamentarian.