FIR filed against BJP MLA, no decision on arrest
Allahabad High Court asks UP Govt
The police in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday registered an FIR against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in connection with the alleged gangrape of a minor girl in Unnao, hours after the government said it would hand the probe over to the CBI.
Till the premier investigating agency takes over, the local police would continue with the probe, but the CBI would take a decision on whether the accused MLA from the ruling party would be arrested, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said.
The Unnao police earlier on Thursday registered the case against Sengar under various sections of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the Makhi police station area.
Under POCSO, an accused has to be arrested immediately after a case been filed.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her into marriage), 363 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
To a volley of questions on whether Sengar would be arrested now that a case had been registered, Kumar said the CBI would decide on this depending on the merit of the case after investigations.
The principal secretary (Home) and state Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh said the MLA had not been named in the statement given before the magistrate earlier as the minor had said she feared for her life.
The government has also decided to extend security to the family of the 17-year-old girl, the DGP said.
On Wednesday night, the SIT constituted by the government handed over its report to the government after which it was decided an FIR would be lodged against the MLA and the case handed over to the CBI.
The teen rape survivor on Thursday demanded the immediate arrest of the MLA, saying that the CBI probe could be conducted later.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday questioned the Uttar Pradesh government's approach in handling the Unnao rape case, asking its counsel why the accused BJP MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar was not arrested even after an FIR.
The Allahabad High Court came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday on the Unnao rape incident, asking it whether it proposes to arrest accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
A bench of Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar, taking cognisance of the gangrape case on a letter to the court by senior lawyer Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi, heard the matter in detail and will pronounce its order tomorrow.
The court also questioned the conduct of the police in the case, saying whom will a victim approach to register a complaint.
Advocate General Raghvendra Singh, who was present in the court on its direction, informed the bench that on August 17, 2017, an application was sent to the Chief Minister's Office in which allegations of rape was made against the MLA.
The application was for- warded to officers concerned in Unnao to take appropriate action, he said.
To this, the bench questioned what has been done in the case and whether any arrests have been made so far.
Singh replied that three of the accused have been arrested, including the MLA'S brother.
The court then asked the Advocate General whether the government proposes to arrest Sengar.
Singh said that he was not in a position to make any statement in this regard and police will proceed in accordance with law only after recording statements of the complainant and witnesses.
The court referred to the SIT report and said, "according to it, medical officers and police officers, all were hand in glove with the accused to save them and you acted on this report against those officers but for arresting rape accused you need to do further investigation."
"Police was not ready to register FIR of the minor rape victim. In spite of the SIT report, you are repeating that we can only take any action after further investigation, if this is the conduct of the police in state, whom will a victim 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'," it said.
According to Chaturvedi, the SIT conducted preliminary investigation and then filed a report after which an FIR was registered and still the state government wants to conduct further probe before arresting the accused MLA.
Chaturvedi has demanded a court-monitored investigation of the incident and also death of the victim's father in judicial custody.