BJP MLA Prabhu Chauhan's son booked on rape charges
Bidar (Karnataka), Jul 20 (PTI): A sexual assault case was registered on Sunday against Pratik Chauhan, son of BJP MLA Prabhu Chauhan based on a complaint lodged at the Bidar Women's Police Station, police sources said.
According to the FIR, the accused allegedly repeatedly raped the victim between December 25, 2023, and March 27, 2024, after promising marriage and getting engaged to her.
As per the complaint, the victim, a 25-year-old woman from Maharashtra, was allegedly misled into believing that Pratik Chouhan would marry her.
She alleged that the relationship began around two years ago, with the Pratik Chauhan initiating regular contact and eventually promised her to marry.
On the basis of this assurance, he allegedly brought her to Bengaluru in September 2023 and committed the first assault in a hotel room.
The engagement was formally conducted on December 25, 2023, at the residence of the accused in Ghamsubai Bonthi Tanda at Aurad taluk in Bidar in the presence of family members.
However, despite repeated requests from the victim's family, no wedding date was fixed, the complainant alleged, adding instead, she was reportedly lured to various places including Latur and Shirdi under the pretext of travel and religious visits, during which she was allegedly sexually assaulted multiple times.
The complaint further alleges that on one occasion, after coercing her to prove her love, the accused forced the victim to self-inflict a wound on her forearm.
When she hesitated, he allegedly took the blade and caused a deep cut himself. The matter came to light after the woman was taken to a hospital in Udgir for treatment.
Efforts by the woman's family to finalise the marriage were reportedly met with outright rejection.
The complainant said that on July 5, 2025, when the her family approached the accused person's residence seeking a wedding date, both Pratik Chouhan and his father allegedly refused and told them to do whatever they wanted.
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Bangladesh court sentences Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in corruption cases
Dhaka (PTI): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.
Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment — five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported.
The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol.
The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm.
Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment — two years in each case — while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in both cases.
Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in each case, totalling two years.
The court also fined all convicted persons Tk1 lakh each and ordered them to serve an additional six months in prison in default of payment.
Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.
The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.
According to the prosecution, the accused manipulated the allocation process and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).
