SP leader Nawab Yadav arrested for attempting to rape minor; BJP jibes over party’s ‘ladko se galti ho jaati hai policy’

A Samajwadi Party leader was arrested in Kannauj on Monday for trying to rape a 15-year-old girl. The SP leader who was formerly a ‘block pramukh’ had allegedly called the minor and her aunt on the pretext of securing a job.

Kannauj Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar informed that they received a call at UP 112 service around 1.30 am on Monday where a girl claimed that she was undressed and a rape attempt was made at her.

In her complaint, the girl said Yadav tried to force himself on her when her aunt had gone to the bathroom. But once she came back and saw Yadav in his inner-wears, they immediately called 112, according to the police.

"Taking cognisance of the call, the local police and PRV teams immediately reached the spot. The girl was rescued and the accused, who was in an objectionable condition, was taken into custody," SP Anand said.

The arrest has triggered a row between the ruling BJP and SP in Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party issued a statement saying that Yadav has been disqualified for being ‘involved in anti-party activities for about 5 years’.

Samajwadi Party leader Juhie Singh questioned why the girl being a minor needed a job. “The girl was 15. So what sort of job was she looking for?”, the SP leader asked. The leader also questioned the timing of the incidence, “They (the minor and her aunt) had called him up in the morning. So in the night suddenly this incident happens. 112 is also dialled from there”.

The ruling BJP hit out at the SP with the claim that the accused had once been a close affiliate of senior party leader Dimple Yadav when she was the Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, "Nawab Singh Yadav is not only a small leader of SP, but he has also been (former) MP Dimple Yadav's representative.”

Tripathi invoked SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's controversial remarks from 2014 and said, “Samajwadi Party has always covered up such crimes under the policy 'ladke hai, ladko se galti ho jaati hai (boys are boys and they make mistakes). First, it was Moid Khan of Ayodhya and Nawab Yadav of Kannauj. This is the real character of the SP, " he said.

When contacted, Samajwadi Party's Kannauj unit president Kaleem Khan said Yadav at present is not a member of the party.

"It's his individual matter and the Samajwadi Party has nothing to do with it," Khan added.

On July 30, the police in UP's Ayodhya district arrested Moid Khan, who ran a bakery in Ayodhya district's Bhadarsa Nagar, and his employee Raju Khan, in connection with the rape of a minor girl.