Centre hands over probe into Unnao rape survivor’s accident case to CBI

With the rape survivor battling for life, the issue echoed in the Parliament on Tuesday, with the Opposition stepping up its attack on the Uttar Pradesh government for giving “political protection” to its MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the main accused in the case. Live Updates

UP Police constitutes SIT to probe accident

Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh Police constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the road accident. “We have constituted an SIT headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Raebareli Shahi Shekhar to probe into the mishap in Raebareli on Sunday,” PTI quoted IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar as saying. The team will go into all the aspects and probe the incident till the CBI takes over the case, the officer said. The state government had on Monday night recommended a CBI probe into the incident.

The car in which the victim was travelling in after the accident. (Express Photo: Gajendra Yadav)

Following the accident in Rae Bareli on Sunday, a murder case was registered against BJP MLA Sandeep Sengar, who is already in jail, and nine others.

The rape survivor’s mother had alleged that Sengar, a four-time MLA who represents Bangermau in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, raped her teenage daughter at his residence in 2017. The Unnao rape case had come to light after the victim allegedly attempted self-immolation outside Adityanath’s residence.

Police personnel deployed at the village of the Unnao rape victim on Monday. (Express photo: Vishal Srivastav)

Priyanka asks PM to divest accused MLA of ‘political power’

Taking to Twitter, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “For God’s sake, Mr Prime Minister, divest this criminal and his brother of the political power your party is giving them. It’s still not too late.”

For God’s sake, Mr. Prime Minister, divest this criminal and his brother of the political power your party is giving them.

Its still not too late.#BJPSackSengar

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 30, 2019

Victim’s letter to CJI days before crash

Meanwhile, a letter written to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by the victim and two family members just days before the car crash, expressing a threat to their lives, also surfaced on Tuesday. A Supreme Court official told PTI that the CJI has asked the secretary-general to go through the letter.

According to doctors at the KGMU Trauma Centre in Lucknow, the rape victim and her lawyer were on ventilator and their condition was being monitored. A National Commission for Women (NCW) team visited the victim’s mother at the hospital.

A protest in support of the Unnao rape victim at India Gate on Monday. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

Allahabad HC grant’s one-day parole to victim’s uncle

Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court Tuesday granted one-day parole to Unnao rape survivor’s uncle Mahesh Singh to attend the last rites of his wife. The Lucknow bench of the high court directed the jail superintendent and district authorities to ensure that Singh is taken for the cremation at Gangaghat in tight security. The development came after the rape survivor’s family members sat on a dharna outside the hospital.

However, the dharna ended on the intervention of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

The truck which collided with the car in which the woman, her relatives and lawyer were travelling. (Photo: PTI)

Akhilesh, Mayawati target UP govt over accident

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister held the Uttar Pradesh government responsible for the accident.

“It has shocked the women of the country. Her father was beaten by the police on the instructions of BJP leaders. The FIR was registered after she tried to immolate herself. It is natural that people are questioning the government and the BJP MLA,” Akhilesh said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati also targeted the BJP government over the issue. “The meeting of BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj with the rape-accused BJP MLA in jail proved that the rape accused are continuously getting the patronage of the ruling BJP. The Supreme Court needs to take cognisance of it,” Mayawati said.

UP Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh comes out of the KGMC Hospital after visiting the Unnao rape survivor, in Lucknow, Monday, July 29, 2019. (PTI Photo)

Ruckus in Lok Sabha

During the day, Lok Sabha witnessed noisy scenes amid sloganeering by Opposition members over the incident. Members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the BSP and the DMK walked out of the House. The TMC members walked out twice. More than 30 members, mostly from the Congress, protested in the Well, shouting, “We want justice”.

Urging the protesting members not to politicise the matter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Uttar Pradesh government was doing everything to ensure justice.

As the Opposition tried to corner the government, in and outside the Parliament, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said that Sengar had been suspended from the party “long ago”. “Sengar was suspended by the party earlier and there is no change in his status,” Dev Singh told PTI. “There is no change in the position of the party and the government, which is standing with the victim of the Unnao (rape) case,” he added.

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DCW chief writes to PM

In another development, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding the expulsion of rape-accused BJP MLA from the party. In the letter, also addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP working president J P Nadda, Maliwal also sought the MLA’s expulsion from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.