Two MPs, six MLAs face rape charges: study

Two Members of Parliament and six legislators in different states were fielded by their parties despite cases of crimnal offence against women pending against them, data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed on Thursday.

The Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were among those who gave tickets to candidates facing charges of rape and other atrocities against women.

Referring to affidavits filed by lawmakers ahead of their election, ADR said MPs S Semmalai of the AIADMK from Salem constituency in Tamil Nadu and Suvendu Adhikari of the Trinamool Congress from Tamluk constituency in West Bengal declared that they were facing charges of cruelty and intent to outrage a woman's modesty.

There were six legislators across state assemblies with rape charges against them. Another 36 legislators declared that they were facing charges such as assault and molestation, it said.

The think tank said that out of the six legislators charged with rape, three were from Uttar Pradesh and members of the Samajwadi Party. They are: Sribhagwan Sharma, Anoop Sanda and Manoj Kumar Paras.

The three other legislators facing rape charges were Mohd Aleem Khan of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Jethabhai G Ahir of the BJP in Gujarat and Kandikunta Venkata Prasad of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.

Of the 36 legislators who declared in their affidavits that they were facing charges of crimes against women, six were from the Congress, five from the BJP and three from the SP, ADR said.

Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of legislators (eight) who declared in their affidavits that they were facing charges of crimes against women, followed by Orissa and West Bengal with seven lawmakers each.