Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested the son of a senior politician and former cabinet minister for allegedly raping a minor girl six years ago.
A local English daily, quoting sources, identified the accused as Abid Gani, son of former Congress leader Abdul Gani Vakil who has since shifted his loyalty to the People’s Conference. Vakil was a social welfare minister from 2006-2008 when Ghulam Nabi Azad was chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Abid, a resident of Sopore in north Kashmir, was wanted in an FIR No. 130/2015 registered at Domana Police Station in Jammu on April 26, 2015 under sections 376/511/354/342/109 RPC and 4/25 Arms Act. He was arrested from Sopore on June 5.
Sources said due to the involvement of the son of an influential politician in the crime, the investigations of the case were intentionally kept slow all these years and no action was taken against the accused.
“However, the incumbent SHO Domana Police Station was given a nod by the senior officers to arrest the accused earlier this month. But it was not disclosed to the media as is done generally in other such high profile cases by holding press conferences,” they said.
It is pertinent to mention here that in 2018, Gani Vakil had welcomed Union cabinet ordinance on child rape which allows courts to pronounce death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age. He had appealed to the then state government to adopt the law without any delay.