Ex-UP MLA sentenced to 15 years in jail in gang-rape case

Bhadohi (UP): The Bhadohi district fast-track court (MP-MLA) has sentenced jailed mafia don and four-time MLA Vijay Mishra to 15 years in prison besides slapping a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him in a gang-rape case.

Bhadohi’s district government counsel (criminal) Dinesh Pandey said, “Judge Subodh Singh Mishra has awarded 15-year imprisonment to Vijay Mishra and also slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on him in a rape case lodged by a woman singer from Varanasi in 2020."

"The court sentenced him under Section 376(2)(N) (physical relations on promise to marry) of the IPC. Besides, he has also been awarded two-year imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 on charges of criminal intimidation. Both terms would run concurrently," he added.

The court had convicted Mishra in this case on Friday, while his son Vishnu Mishra and grandson Vikas Mishra were acquitted in the same case.

Mishra is currently lodged at Agra jail with 83 criminal cases against him, including of murder, loot, kidnapping, rape, fraud, extortion, and property grabbing, among others.

Mishra, who was brought from Agra jail amid tight security arrangements, was present in the court to hear the judgement.

A woman singer from Varanasi had lodged a gang-rape case with the Gopiganj police station in Bhadohi in October 2020, alleging that she had been called to perform songs at the residence of Mishra in 2014 and when she was changing her clothes before the programme, he entered her room and raped her after issuing threats of dire consequences.

Later, he asked Vishnu and Vikas to drop her at her home but the duo took her to another building and raped her, she alleged.

The woman complainant had further alleged that in 2015, she was called by Mishra in the Allapur area in Allahabad and later at a hotel in Varanasi where he raped her.

She added that Mishra had made her objectionable video clips and also used to make video calls to force her for virtual sex.

Upset over these activities, she had started living in Mumbai. She had also attached many clips and screenshots from her mobile with her complaint.