Dehradun, Nov. 12 -- Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday took to social media to express solidarity with the 39-year-old woman who has accused senior state Congress leader and former cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat of raping her in 2003 when she was 16 years old, a day after he met her in Guwahati. "......What Harak Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand did to her extremely wrong and condemnable. No one should have to go through the atrocities she endured. In this fight for justice, I stand firmly by her side," Chief Minister Sarma wrote on X on Wednesday, a day after meeting the woman. On November 5, the woman submitted a complaint seeking a fresh DNA test to secure legal rights and paternity recognition for her 23-year-old son, to the state police. She had lodged a criminal complaint in 2003 against Rawat, alleging that he raped her and fathered her child. Rawat was forced to resign from the ministerial post he held at the time under then-chief minister ND Tiwari. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and subsequent DNA test returned negative, leading the agency to file a closure report giving him a clean chit. in 2016, the woman filed a rape complaint against Rawat at Delhi's Safdarjung police station. In her fresh complaint addressed to Director General of Police (DGP) Deepam Seth, a copy of which was seen by HT, the woman claimed she was 16 years old when Rawat allegedly raped her in 2003. "At that time, there was a Congress government, and everyone came together to save Harak Singh Rawat because he was a powerful man. So I didn't get justice... the lawyer fighting my case was hired by Harak Singh Rawat. Today, my son is 23 years old and struggling for his identity," she alleged. The Dehradun Police launched an inquiry into the matter, while Rawat dismissed the refreshed allegations as a political ploy orchestrated by the BJP ahead of upcoming elections. htc...