Shahjahanpur, May 9 (HT): A 28-year-old woman from here has accused a BJP legislator and his son of raping her in 2011, drawing parallels with the Unnao case and putting the ruling party on the defensive yet again.

The woman staged a protest in front of the Shahjahanpur collectorate on Monday to demand the immediate arrest of Roshanlal Verma, the BJP MLA from Tilhar, and his son, Manoj Verma. She called off the protest only after superintendent of police (Shahjahanpur) KB Singh assured her of action.

Singh said the rape case had been transferred to the CB-CID on a directive issued by the state government. “The woman has been informed about this. I assured her that I will forward her demands to CB-CID officials,” he added.

The MLA denied the charges, alleging that rival parties were raking up the issue for political gain. “I haven’t tried to sidestep any investigation in the case. Rival political parties are using the woman, and I hope she understands that,” Roshanlal, who was a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party at the time of the alleged incident, told reporters on Monday.

Meanwhile, the local unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) came out in support of the woman. “The present government is protecting rapists and those accused of crimes against women,” said SP district president Tanvir Khan, who was with the victim at the time.

The woman could not be reached for comment.

The Unnao case pertains to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in June 2017. The incident had spurred several protests across the country last month.