Minor’s rape: HC rejects bail plea of Nawada MLA

PATNA: The Patna high court on Friday rejected the bail petition of Nawada RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav who has been in jail for more than a year for allegedly raping a minor girl. The court of Justice Vinod Kumar Sinha also rejected his interlocutory application to allow him to attend the winter session of the state assembly.
Yadav had surrendered before a Biharsharif court in Nalanda district on March 10 last year in the case in which he is accused of raping a minor girl at his residence at English Pathra village under the Mufassil police station area in Nawada district on February 6 last year.The victim, a Class X student then, was lured by a woman named Sulekha Devi in the name of attending a birthday party at Yadav’s residence. Yadav had paid Rs30,000 to the woman for bringing the girl to his residence.
The Patna high court had granted bail to Yadav on September 30 last year and the state government challenged it in the Supreme Court, which rejected the MLA’s bail on November 24, 2016.
Formulate scheme within four weeks: While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by ‘Bent, Kursi Ewam Nursery Sangh’, the Patna high court on Friday ordered the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to formulate a scheme to resettle the encroachers between Ashoka convention hall and St Joseph’s Covent under the Street Vendors Act, 2014. The division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay also remarked that they could not be allowed to encroach the roadside area. The sangh was represented by counsel Niranjan Kumar. PMC had sought eight weeks’ time to formulate and submit the scheme, but the court rejected the plea.
Non-banking firms: The Patna high court, while hearing another PIL, ordered the state government to file a counter affidavit within four weeks’ time on action being taken against non-banking firms duping people across the state. The PIL was filed by Ashish Kumar Kesri. Kesri’s counsel Dinu Kumar said he, along with two others had been duped of around Rs49 lakh by two firms — Daya Dak Private Limited and Bonanza Portfolio Limited.