Allahabad HC takes note of letter plea seeking probe monitored by court
ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday took cognisance of the letter petition by senior advocate Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi seeking a courtmonitored investigation into the rape of a woman in Unnao, allegedly by a ruling BJP MLA and his aides, and in the death of her father in judicial custody.
Chaturvedi sought a courtmonitored investigation into the case as it involved “a legislator of the ruling party (BJP)”.
The bench comprising chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Suneet Kumar appointed Chaturvedi as amicus curiae in the case to represent the survivor.
The HC directed the letter be registered as PIL and fixed April 12 as the next date of hearing.
The court directed to preserve the body of the rape survivor’s father, if the cremation has not already been done.
The court observed, “What is disturbing, as submitted by Mr Chaturvedi, is that the father of the prosecutrix, for no reason, came to be arrested and was in custody, where he was mercilessly beaten and he succumbed to the injuries yesterday.”
“We fail to understand why the investigating agency instead of arresting accused persons, arrested the complainant, in connection with this case.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it will hear next week here a plea for CBI probe into the case. The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said it would hear the plea which also alleges that the rape victim’s father was tortured and killed in the police custody at the behest of the “ruling party”.