Union minister Nihal Chand Meghwal
Union minister Nihal Chand Meghwal, who has been accused of rape by a woman in Jaipur, met Home Minister Rajnath Singh today, days after rejecting opposition demands for his resignation.
A 24-year-old married woman has alleged that she was raped three years ago by Mr Meghwal. The minister has been asked to appear in a Rajasthan court in August, which has left the new government facing its first big scandal after taking charge last month.
The opposition Congress and women's rights activists have said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack the minister immediately.
Mr Meghwal, 43, said on Wednesday, "Why should I resign?"
The woman told the media earlier this week that she wanted "two minutes" with the PM to discuss her case. She has alleged that she has alternately faced threats and been promised jobs by those who want her to drop the case.
Mr Meghwal, the junior minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, is the only parliamentarian from Rajasthan in Prime Minister Modi's cabinet.
The ruling BJP today ruled out his resignation. "Congress party workers are creating ruckus but their government had given him a clean chit after investigation. There is no question of his resignation," said the party's Shahnawaz Hussain.
The BJP points out that the case had been thoroughly investigated when the Congress was in power in Rajasthan.
The woman says that in 2011, she was raped by a group of men including Mr Meghwal, who was not a parliamentarian at the time. She says her husband, an aspiring politician and property dealer, forced her into sex with powerful and connected men in and around Jaipur.
Her lawyers say deliberately shoddy police investigation protected the influential people she had named in her complaint.
Earlier this year, a local court accepted the police's request to close the case, though the woman's testimony had never been recorded. She challenged that decision in a higher court in Jaipur which has now asked Mr Meghwal to appear on August 20.