In a significant development, the survivor of the 2017 Unnao rape case has approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking the registration of an FIR against the then-investigating officer for being “hand in glove” with the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who was convicted.
The victim has also claimed that she and her family were facing several threats from various quarters.
On Friday, the CBI challenged in the Supreme Court the Delhi High Court order suspending the life sentence and bail to the expelled BJP MLA in the Unnao rape case.
The central agency probe filed a special leave petition in the apex court against the order of the high court. The decision to file the SLP was taken after studying the orders of a division bench of the Delhi High Court.
Following the suspension of the life sentence of Sengar by the Delhi High Court recently in the case, disappointments were seen in several quarters.
The victim, her mother, and a women activist also held a protest at the India Gate in Delhi against the High Court order.
In her complaint, the rape survivor has alleged that the investigating officer conducted the probe dishonestly, with mala fides, and in such a way that Senger and the other accused may get the benefits of “deliberate lapses and manipulation of facts introduced, and secure a favorable outcome”.
She also said that the officer used forged school documents in the chargesheet, wherein she was shown as a student of a government school and her date of birth was also shown differently, whereas, in reality, she never took admission in that school.
In her six-page complaint, the victim, who was a minor at the time of her rape in 2017, claimed she had filed a complaint earlier as well, but no action was taken against the officer.
She also said that several statements were falsely attributed to her in the chargesheet and the IO mentioned in the chargesheet that she was using a mobile phone of a woman named Heera Singh, even though she never used that phone.
During the trial, the CBI had said that the investigating officer’s claims on the mobile phone used by the victim were “mere opinion” and not a “conclusive proof”, and merely on that basis, “no assumption can be raised that the officer was siding with the accused party”.
“There is more to the story than what meets the eye, as it appears that the investigation was not conducted fairly, and the approach of the IO/CBI leaves an impression that recording of the girl’s statement was with a view to discredit the version of the victim/survivor and her family members in the present case,” the court had said.
Suspension of Sengar’s Life Sentence
Kuldeep Sengar’s sentence was suspended by the high court till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case.
The HC said that letting Sengar be in jail when he has already spent about seven years and five months in prison would be violative of Article 21 (protection of life and liberty) of the Constitution.
He has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the case.
However, Sengar will remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year term for the custodial death of the rape survivor’s father.
