Unhappy with Unnao rape case probe, HC pulls up CBI
ALLAHABAD : The Allahabad high court on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the progress in investigation into the Unnao rape case and said the CBI had not even recorded the statement of the victim girl which was the most important thing to do.
ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the progress in investigation into the Unnao rape case and said the CBI had not even recorded the statement of the victim girl which was the most important thing to do.
“We are unhappy with the progress in the case. We asked for status report just to see what you (CBI) are doing. Why do you wait for our orders to proceed?” the court asked.
“Do whatever you can by using your power. The court cannot direct you at every stage of investigation,” the court told the counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The bench comprising chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Suneet Kumar, which had taken suo motu cognisance of the Unnao rape case, fixed May 21 as the next date of hearing.
CBI filed a status report in a sealed cover in the court on Wednesday. The court had also issued notices to all the accused, including BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, on the application by CBI seeking transfer of rape trial from special court in Unnao to Lucknow.
CBI officials who were present in the court said they would take steps to transfer all the accused from Unnao jail to Lucknow. The mother of the victim girl on Wednesday filed an application informing the court that Tinku Singh, who had registered a case against her husband under the Arms Act on April 3, was missing.
She said before he went missing, Singh had denied that he lodged any FIR against her husband. Alleging that the FIR lodged against her husband was fake, she said CBI should trace out Singh to find the truth.
The CBI informed the court that it was taking steps to file an application seeking cancellation of bail granted to the accused in kidnapping and gang rape of the girl in June last year.
On April 13, the court had directed the CBI to arrest Kuldeep Sengar and asked the probe agency to file a status report on May 2. A teenage girl from Unnao had alleged that she was raped by the MLA at his residence when she had gone there to seek his assistance in securing a job on June 4 last year.
In February, her family approached the court seeking inclusion of the MLA’s name in the case. On April 3, the girl father was allegedly assaulted by the MLA’s brother Atul Singh Sengar and his aides and handed over to the police after registering a case against him.
Agitated over the alleged police inaction on her complaint and coercion from influential people, she attempted self-immolation in front of the residence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath on April 8.
The next day, her father died in district hospital under judicial custody with the autopsy report suggesting serious injuries led to his death. The court had taken cognisance of a letter petition by senior advocate Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi demanding a courtmonitored investigation into the incident and treated it as PIL petition.