MLA Sonkar in ICU, out of cops reach

JABALPUR: BJP MLA Anchal Sonkar cools his heels in a private hospital even as six of his accomplices, charged with roughing up woman sub-inspector on probation Nirupa Pandey, are behind bars.
The MLA, who had retaliated by lodging a complaint a day later, as an afterthought, against Pandey under SC/ST act for using caste slur, fell suddenly ill on Sunday and was taken to nursing home.
Sonkar lies in the ICU and is therefore well beyond the reach of police, which has yet to begin his interrogation.
Meanwhile, as activists and social organizations intensify their protest against Sonkar, the leader has found support from his party colleague and minister Sharad Jain. Talking to media, Jain announced that Sonkar had fallen victim to a political conspiracy and his name was unnecessarily being dragged through the mud.
Let the inquiry be over and truth will emerge, said a confident Jain, who also claimed that the issue had been taken up with the party big-wigs and that they have been apprised of Sonkar's plight. The minister demanded action in the application filed by Sonkar in the SC/ST thana that charged Pandey with humiliating him with casteist remarks.
This development has led to much outrage in Congress camp. Talking to TOI, Anubha Sharma, president, district women Congress, said Jain's remarks show that a decision has already been taken to give Sonkar a clean chit. And also that the inquiry set up by the district police is going to be nothing but an eyewash.
When the minister is declaring before the camera that higher ups have been informed about the political conspiracy against Sonkar, is there any chance of Pandey getting a fair deal in the probe, Sharma asked. The match is already fixed, she said.
Mahila Congress, Sharma declared, demands an apology from the minister failing which it will gherao him.
Former MLA from the constituency, Lakhan Ghanghoria, said that it was a shame that the minister was siding with the accused instead of defending a woman officer, who was a victim of violence. This rips off BJP's governments tall claims about providing safety and security to women, he said.
Support for Pandey has also poured in from other organizations, including Akhil Bhartiya Mahila Sangathan, Vasundhra Jan Chetna Sangathan, Gunjan Sanstha and other activists who took out a candle march on the streets.