FIR filed, but UP doesn’t nab MLA
UNNAO NOTES HC raps govt for not arresting legislator; admin puts ball in CBI court as confusion rises over girl’s age
Uttar Pradesh police lodged a first information report (FIR) on Thursday against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar for rape, criminal intimidation and abduction of a teenaged girl whose father died this week after an alleged assault by his brother.
The Allahabad high court, meanwhile, questioned the Uttar Pradesh government’s handling of the Unnao rape case, asking the advocate general why Sengar hadn’t been arrested even after the FIR had been lodged. Social activists and political parties stepped up pressure on the administration of chief minister Yogi Adityanath for the arrest of the MLA.
In the FIR lodged at Makhi police station in Unnao, the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO Act), was also cited against the MLA.
The girl’s date of birth, according to the FIR, is August 17, 2002, on the basis of which she is aged less than 16. Previous reports have put her age at 18. The police complaint was lodged on the basis of the report submitted to the government by a special investigation team (SIT) led by additional director general of police, Lucknow zone, Rajeev Krishna on Wednesday night.
The FIR was lodged on the
LUCKNOW/ALLAHABAD:
complaint of the girl’s mother at around 2.50 am on Thursday.
According to the FIR, a man identified as Shashi Singh escorted the girl to the MLA’s residence in Makhi, Unnao, at around 8 pm on July 4, 2017 on the pretext of getting her a job recommendation from the MLA.
The complainant alleged that the girl was held captive there and raped by the MLA in the presence of Shashi Singh, who was also named in the FIR abetting the crime.
A senior police official said the MLA had been charged under Sections 363 and 366 (kidnapping of minor girl), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “Sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act have also been included in the FIR,” he said.
Talking to journalists, the girl had said she was 16 when the rape took place.
On Sunday, when the girl tried to immolate herself in front of the residence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the girl’s family had claimed she was 18, which would have put her at 17 last year.
In the Allahabad high court, a bench comprising chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Suneet Kumar heard advocate general of UP and amicus curiae (friend of the court) Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi, who had sought a courtmonitored investigation.
The advocate general informed the court that an application had been sent to the chief minister’s office on August 17, 2017, in which allegations of rape were made against the MLA.