Indian judge suspended for granting bail to rape-accused former minister

A senior judge in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has been suspended for "hastily" granting bail to a rape-accused former minister.
The High Court in Uttar Pradesh issued the suspension orders of the Additional Sessions Judge Om Prakash Mishra Friday, two days before he was set to retire, for giving bail to former Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati, accused of raping a woman and attempting to rape her minor daughter.
"I may however observe that the manner in which the learned judge has shown the haste in releasing the accused on bail, ignoring the nature of offense allegedly committed by the respondent accused ... I have my reservations about the bonafides/intention of the learned judge who is about to retire on 30/4/2017," High Court's Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale said in his order.
Registrar General of the High Court in Uttar Pradesh, D.K. Singh, confirmed the suspension orders to the media Saturday.
The High Court not only suspended the judge but also put on hold the release of the former minister after the state government challenged the bail granted to Prajapati.
The High Court also said that Prajapti tried to mislead the courts by concealing facts. The former minister, the government told the court, had stated in his bail application that he had no criminal case pending against him but there were six cases, in fact, that were still pending.
Prajapati was arrested in state capital Lucknow last month after absconding for over two weeks. He went missing in the middle of campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after the Supreme Court ordered the state police to file a case against him on the allegation of a woman.

Source: Xinhua