Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court, on April 12, questioned the Uttar Pradesh government’s approach in handling the Unnao rape case, asking its counsel why the accused BJP MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar was not arrested even after an FIR.
The court also asked the counsel to clarify whether or not the government would arrest the MLA, and sought a reply after lunch. It may be noted that the case has been handed over to the CBI, while a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Lucknow zone police is also investigating it. When the court convened after the lunch, UP government said, “it needs time to collect evidence.”
A bench comprising chief justice D.B. Bhosale and justice Suneet Kumar made the observation when state advocate general Raghvendra Singh sought more time for the police to complete the investigation to make the arrest.
Singh said three persons, including the MLA’s brother have been arrested in the case, but when asked about Sengar’s arrest, he said the police will proceed in accordance with law only, and repeatedly asserted that it would happen only after investigations.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate, Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi, who had sought a court-monitored investigation into the rape and death of the rape victim’s father in custody, said an SIT had conducted preliminary probe and filed a report after which an FIR was lodged, but the state government wanted to conduct further investigation before arresting the MLA.
“In spite of the SIT report, you are repeating that we (the government) can only take action after investigation. If this is the conduct of the police, whom will a victim approach to register a complaint?” the bench asked.
“If this is the stand you are repeatedly taking, then we will be forced to observe in our order that law and order has collapsed in the state,” it said.
On April 11, the court had ordered a stay on the cremation of the body of the girl’s father. The body had, however, already been cremated. The girl has accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother of raping her in June 2017.
On April 8, the rape victim tried to commit suicide outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s house. Her father, who was in custody since April 4, after getting into a fight with the MLA’s brother, died.
On April 10, the police arrested the MLA’s brother Atul Sengar and four others for assaulting the man. The postmortem listed multiple abrasions near the abdomen, buttocks, thighs, above and below knee joints and arms – indicating that his death may have been caused by physical assault.
Late on April 11, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, with a convoy of 20 vehicles full of supporters, went to the official residence of a senior police officer in Lucknow to claim that he neither raped the teenager nor had a role in her father’s death.
“I just came here to prove that I have done no wrong and would be here anytime the police wants me,” he told reporters, according to Hindustan Times.
The BJP MLA maintained that he was being framed, and told the police, “When there is an arrest warrant, call me.”
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