Gujarat BJP minister Arjunsinh Chauhan has been accused of rape and illegal confinement of a woman. He is Gujarat’s rural development minister and an MLA from Mahemdavad town of Gujarat. On July 27, Hitesh Patel, a former Sarpanch of Haldarvas village of Mahemdavad town filed an application to the village authorities alleging that Chauhan confined his wife and raped her multiple times between 2015 to 2021. Chauhan is the rural development and rural housing minister of the government of Gujarat.
‘He raped her for over five years’
“When Arjunsinh was BJP’s district committee president in 2015, he had nominated my wife as Taluka Panchayat candidate and she got elected. This is when my wife came in contact with him. Later for over five years she was called by Arjusinh at various places in the name of meetings and raped.” said former Sarpanch.
“When I asked my wife to file a criminal complaint against Chauhan, she refused, reasoning he is a powerful person and could harm our family,” he added.
Arjunsinh forced her to sleep with influential people
“During Covid lockdown, Arjunsinh locked my wife at some place for over a month and raped her several times. Not just this, he even forced her to sleep with other influential people.” The complainant also claimed that his wife was scared of this influential BJP minister and so she left her house.
Meanwhile, Kheda SSP said, “We have received an application from a person living in Haldarvas village. If the allegations are found true, the criminal procedure will be followed.”
Equality before law, Sir: Mahua Moitra
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Sunday took to twitter to condemn the BJP MLA. “Lady raped & confined by BJP Guj Minister Arjunsinh for 5 yrs. Expecting Hon’ble @ombirlakota to hand mic to Oppn as SOON as he enters LS on Monday so we can ask PMji to Maafi Maango. Equality before law, Sir!” she tweeted.
Reacting to the scandal involving the Gujarat minister, Trinamul Congress leader Derek O’brien also tweeted: “Dear PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, look forward to seeing you both Monday morning in Parliament. Since you are ever so eager to raise issues of Opposition disrespecting women, all of us will be waiting. 11am Monday. See you then. PS: If 56 inch can’t come, send the number two.”
The TMC, in its official Twitter handle, too raised the issue of women safety referring to the same allegations.
Minister files Rs 5 crore defamation case
After an investigation into the matter, the Crime Branch took a statement from the complainant Hitesh Patel’s wife and declared the claims baseless. In the statement, she stated that her husband has a suspicious nature. She also alleged that he used to beat her up and therefore she left her husband and started living with her sister in another city. Meanwhile, Chauhan has decided to file a plea to claim Rs. 5 crore compensation on account of defamation linked to these false allegations.
Meanwhile, the party’s twitter army is flooding the hashtag #i_support_arjunsinh_chauhan #I_Stand_with_you to show their support towards the rape-accused minister.
