Survivor discharged from Delhi’s AIIMS
CBI gets two more weeks for accident probe
THE AGENCY GOT TWO MORE WEEKS AFTER SUBMITTING BEFORE A BENCH THAT THE INJURED LAWYER WAS STILL UNFIT TO RECORD HIS STATEMENT
NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave two more weeks to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its probe of the July truck-car collision in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli in which the Unnao rape survivor and her lawyer were grievously injured and two of her aunts were killed.
The agency received the additional two weeks after submitting before a bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose that the injured lawyer was still unfit to record his statement in the accident investigation.
The woman, who was allegedly raped by a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, was discharged on Wednesday from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told the bench that the survivor’s lawyer Mahendra Singh was still unconscious. He sought more time for the CBI to complete the probe, which was granted by the bench.
SC had on September 6 given two weeks to the CBI to conclude its probe into the truck-car collision case in which too, former BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an accused. The rape survivor and her lawyer suffered grievous injuries on July 28 after a truck rammed into their car while the woman was on her way to Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. She fractured her femur and collar bone and suffered chest injuries in the collision.
On the top court’s intervention, the now 19-year-old woman and the lawyer were moved from a Lucknow hospital to AIIMS, Delhi, for treatment.
“She is fine and would not need any active treatment at the moment. She will just have to come for her follow-ups,” a doctor from the hospital said on condition of anonymity.
A temporary court was set up in the conference room of the hospital on September 11 as the survivor was not strong enough to stay upright in court for hours.
SC had on August 1 transferred the trial in all cases involving the Unnao survivor to Delhi. It designated a sessions judge of the Tis Hazari court in Delhi to hear the cases and set a 45-day deadline for the trial. An interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh was also ordered to be given to the rape survivor.
It had then fixed a week’s deadline for the CBi to complete its probe into the accident case. However, the agency was given liberty to seek an extension for another week under exceptional circumstances.
The CBI has booked 10 people for murder, including Sengar, who was expelled by the BJP and is already in jail, charged with the rape of the woman when she was a minor in 2017. Sengar is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
A day ago, a Delhi court had issued directions under the witness protection guidelines for arranging accommodation for the survivor and her family in Delhi after the Uttar Pradesh government said they wanted to reside in the national capital apprehending threat in their home state.
The report was filed as per the court’s earlier directions to the UP government to apprise it about the possible measures that could be taken for relocating the woman and her family to a safe place.
District judge Dharmesh Sharma directed that the survivor and her family members -mother, two sisters and one brother -- be temporarily accommodated in the hostel of the Jay Prakash Narayan Trauma Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi, for the next seven days, a lawyer privy to the proceedings said.