HC takes up Unnao rape case

Amid mounting pressure on the Uttar Pradesh police to solve the Unnao gang-rape case and custodial death of the minor victim’s father, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

Acting on a request by senior advocate Gopal S. Chaturvedi for a court-monitored probe, the court admitted his letter as a Public Interest Litigation plea. The matter will come up on Thursday.

The court said that as per the submission made by Mr. Chaturvedi, it found it “disturbing” that the father of the rape victim was arrested by police “for no reason” and was “mercilessly beaten” while in custody.

“We fail to understand why the investigating agency instead of arresting the accused persons, arrested the complainant, in connection with this case,” said a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar.

Mr. Chaturvedi submitted that though the offence came to be registered on the basis of an FIR lodged by the father of the girl, naming BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar as main accused, the investigating agency has not arrested him till date.

The court has requested Mr. Chaturvedi to appear in the case as amicus curiae.

Meanwhile the five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the government to probe the entire issue, the gang-rape allegations as well as the custodial death of the rape victim’s father, visited Unnao and questioned both sides.

The SIT will submit an interim report to the government on Wednesday evening.

A large number of the MLA’s supporters had gathered at the site, prompting the victim side to allege that the police team was being pressured to go soft on the MLA.

Lucknow Additional Director-General of police Rajeev Krishna, who is monitoring the probe, said the SIT was working independently and there was no pressure on it. “We are probing all angles. Action will be taken in all aspects,” he said.

The minor, who is presently living at a guesthouse in Unnao under police protection, has refused to return to her village alleging that the MLA could get her killed. She has demanded the MLA’s immediate arrest.

‘BJP shielding him’

“The BJP is shielding the MLA, not arresting him,” she told reporters in Unnao.

Mr. Krishna said the police are providing adequate security to the minor and her family and would continue to do so.

“It is their call if they want to continue living in Unnao or move to Delhi, where the girl’s uncle lives,” he said.

Wife demands narco test

Meanwhile, the wife of the MLA demanded on Wednesday that a narco-test be conducted on him as well as the minor girl. Sangeeta Singh Sengar placed the demand before Uttar Pradesh Director-General of Police O.P. Singh here. She is a zilla panchayat head in Unnao, a post she won in 2015 while her husband was with the Samajwadi Party.

“Even without a probe, they have already declared him a rapist. They must conduct a narco test,” Ms. Sengar told reporters in Lucknow.

She alleged that there was a “political issue” behind the rape allegations against her husband who she said was being “made a pawn.”

“My husband is innocent...I have full sympathy with that girl. Her honour is also being torn to shreds,” Ms. Sengar said.