The CBI has told a special court on Wednesday that the Unnao rape survivor faces the “highest level of threat” after which the court ordered Uttar Pradesh government to report on how she and her family can be relocated within the state or to one of the neighbouring states.
The teenager has been in the hospital ever since the car in which she was travelling in was hit by a truck in the Lalganj-Raebareli highway near Sultanpur Kheda in the month of July leaving her critically injured. The accident is also being probed after the victim’s uncle has registered the FIR against Sengar, his brother and others over their alleged involvement in the accident.
Meanwhile, the CBI also told the court in Delhi that presently the survivor and her family are under ‘Category A threat perception’ in the witness protection scheme adding that the victim should be given adequate protection.
The Judge, Dharmesh Sharma, then issued a notice to the UP government to file a report within a week on steps that can be taken to shift the rape survivor, her mother, two sisters and brother to a safe place. The court has now put up the case for further hearing on September 24.
The teenager was critically injured when a truck rammed the car she was travelling in with her lawyer and two aunts to meet her uncle in Raebareli on July 28. Since then she is undergoing treatment in Delhi’s AIIMS hospital. Two of her aunts died in the crash caused by the truck, which had a blackened number plate. Reports had emerged then that the truck belonged to Samajwadi Party leader Nandu Lal who claimed that the number plate of the truck that was involved in the accident was blackened out to evade the financiers.
A judge went to the hospital earlier this month for the victim’s testimony. A ‘courtroom’ was set up at the hospital and the accused politician, Kuldeep Sengar was also brought there. A curtain separated the two during the teen’s statement. The court has asked the CBI to investigate the crash which in turn had registered a case against suspended BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao rape victim accident case.
On August 1, the Supreme Court shifted the five cases connected with the Unnao case to Delhi, while ordering interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the victim and CRPF security cover for the victim and her family including their lawyer. It also assigned a judge for daily hearings and ordered that the trial be completed within 45 days.
Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is the prime accused in the 2017 high profile rape case. The case pertains to an alleged rape committed by Sengar and his plot to silence the victim and intimidate her relatives by framing them in police cases based on flippant charges.
