Journalism of Courage
Days before she was critically injured and her two aunts killed in a road accident, the Unnao victim, who has accused Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of sexual assault, had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India, stating that she faced threats by the accused in the rape case.
And more than two months ago, a Supreme Court bench of Justices S A Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer had issued notices to the CBI and the accused in the case on a plea by the woman’s mother seeking transfer of four cases currently being heard by a CBI Special Judge in Lucknow to Delhi.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi, it is learnt, has asked the Supreme Court Secretary General to prepare a report for him on the woman’s letter.
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In her plea to the SC on April 16, her mother stated that after the alleged rape of her daughter and “murder” of her husband, she had moved with her family to Delhi where they were living with relatives. “However, the petitioner, the prosecutrix and other family members are attending the courts at Lucknow under constant fear and threat from Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his aides and they are apprehending danger to their lives from the said main accused and his aides during their visits to Lucknow,” she said in her petition filed through Advocate Ramkrishna Reddy.
Almost two months later, on July 12, the woman wrote a letter to CJI Gogoi as well as the Allahabad High Court and other authorities of the UP government. Unnao SP Madhawa Prasad Verma said, “As many as 25 complainants were made by the woman and her family since July last year. In most complaints, allegations were made against the MLA, his family and his associates for threatening them. As per police station records, enquiries were conducted on the complaints and the allegations were not found to be true.”
On Sunday afternoon, the car in which the woman, her two aunts and lawyer were travelling was hit by a truck in Rae Bareli, killing the two family members and leaving her and the advocate critically injured. Sengar, a four-time BJP MLA from UP’s Bangermau, is an accused in the rape case and was arrested last year in April. The accident case has been transferred to the CBI, which has filed chargesheets against Sengar in the sexual assault case.
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Her letter to authorities, including the CJI, states that on July 7 some people allegedly associated with Sengar threatened her family with dire consequences. It also sought directions for registration of an FIR against those who had intimidated them.
Citing similar concerns, her mother’s plea in the SC prayed the court to transfer the cases to Delhi, saying her remaining children would become orphans if something happens to her too. Two of the four cases relate to the alleged rape incident while the third relates to the death of her husband.
Her plea states that her husband was “brutally assaulted by the aides of Kuldeep Singh Sengar” when he went to Unnao on April 3, 2018, to attend the POCSO court. This, she said, was for filing criminal cases against Sengar. As a result of the assault, her husband succumbed to his injuries in the Unnao district hospital on April 9.
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Incidentally, the cases were were transferred to the Lucknow Special Court on the orders of the Allahabad High Court. The plea seeking transfer of the cases has not come up for hearing before the SC again as the notice is yet to be served to all respondents.
“Four of the respondents are yet to be served,” said Reddy. He said he will now do “dasti service” meaning the notices will be served personally instead of being sent by post. The lawyer said that the family had been apprehending danger which is why it decided to approach the top court.
The CBI, he added, had not filed its reply in the matter yet.
