Modi promises justice for daughters of India
UNNAO CASE Allahabad HC tells CBI to arrest accused MLA, whom it is questioning
On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the Unnao and Kathua rape cases, Uttar Pradesh BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar was detained and questioned by CBI officials in Lucknow, even as the Allahabad high court directed the federal investigating agency to arrest him over allegations that he raped a teenager in Unnao last year.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Ambedkar Memorial in New Delhi on Friday, Modi said, “These incidents are shameful... I want to assure that no criminal will be spared; our daughters will get justice.”
“Such incidents shake our sensibilities,” the Prime Minister added.
Modi has been under fire from the Opposition for not condemning the two rape cases that have rocked the country in the last few days.
A senior CBI official said the MLA was taken into custody from a house in Lucknow’s Indira Nagar area and was taken to the agency’s office in Hazratganj around 4am.
According to him, the agency had lodged three separate FIRs in connection with the Unnao rape.
“The first FIR is related to allegations of rape on the MLA and a woman, the second is of the
ALLAHABAD/LUCKNOW:
June 2017 event in which the teenager’s family accused four people of kidnapping and raping her,” he said.
The third case is related to the alleged attack on the teenager’s father on April 3 in which one of the MLA’s relatives had accused the 55-year-old man of voluntarily causing hurt after a brawl.
The father was wounded and died on April 9 during treatment while in judicial custody.
The CBI swung into action on Thursday after the state government’s recommended a federal probe, but the high court on Friday asked why the MLA for Bangarmau in Unnao district was detained, not arrested.
“Arrest of the accused is necessarily required to safeguard the majesty of law and the dignity of the prosecutrix,” the court said.
A bench of Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar directed the CBI investigating officer to arrest Sengar. The court will monitor the investigation and asked the CBI to file a status report on May 2, which is the next date of hearing.
The 15-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by the MLA at his residence, when she had gone to meet him with a relative, seeking a job on June 4, 2017. In February, her family approached the court, seeking to include the lawmaker’s name in the case.
After the case was filed, her father was booked by police under the arms act on April 3 and put in jail on April 5. Frustrated with the alleged police inaction on her complaint and coercion from influential people, she attempted self-immolation in front of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Aditynath’s residence on April 8.