A court in Kerala sent Congress MLA M Vincent to one-day in police custody over charges of rape and stalking a 51-year-old woman, ANI reported. The legislator, who was remanded to 14-day judicial custody on July 22, has been lodged at the Neyyattinkara sub-jail in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala backed the Kovalam legislator on Tuesday and said the case against him was politically motivated. “UDF’s assumption is that Congress MLA Vincent, against whom the charge has been made, has not done anything wrong and the complaint of the woman in this regard is false,” said PP Thankachan, UDF convenor, according to PTI.

On July 21, the woman’s husband filed a police complaint on Friday after she attempted to kill herself the previous day. He had said that Vincent had threatened and harassed his wife on the phone. Vincent, a first-time legislator, was suspended from the post of party secretary on July 23.