Why hasn’t Kuldeep been arrested yet, Allahabad HC asks Uttar Pradesh govt

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Thursday questioned the Uttar Pradesh government’s handling of the Unnao rape case, asking the advocate general why the accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, has not been arrested even after an FIR.

The bench asked the state advocate general Raghavendra Singh when the government proposed to arrest Sengar to which he replied that he was not in a position to make any statement on the matter.

“The police will proceed in accordance with law only after recording the statements of the complainant and witnesses,” he said.

Referring to a report by the government special investigation team (SIT), the court said, “Medical officers and the police, all were hand-in-glove with the accused to save them and you acted against those officers on the basis of this report. But to arrest the rape accused you need to do further investigation.”

“The police are not ready to register the FIR of a minor rape victim. In spite of SIT report, you are repeating that we can only take action after investigation. If this is the conduct of the police in the state, whom a victim will approach to register a complaint? If this is the stand you are repeatedly taking, then we will be forced to observe in our order that law and order has collapsed in the state,” the bench comprising chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Suneet Kumar observed.

The bench reserved the order for April 13 after hearing the advocate general as well as senior advocate and amicus curiae Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi who had sought a courtmonitored investigation into the case.