New Delhi: A judge arrived at Delhi’s AIIMS hospital on Wednesday to record the statement of a teen who was allegedly raped by politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former BJP MLA who was also taken by the police to the hospital for the special hearing.
The teen from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh has been in hospital since July, after a truck crashed into a car she was riding in with her family. The girl has blamed the car crash on Kuldeep Sengar, who was jailed last year after public outrage over the slow pace of investigations into allegations against him.
Last week, the Delhi High Court had ordered the special court at AIIMS or the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the trial in what has been dubbed the Unnao rape case. This would facilitate the rape survivor’s deposition in hospital, the court said.
The Supreme Court had asked the High Court to decide on a lower court judge’s request for a special hearing at AIIMS.
The top court also granted more time to the CBI to complete its investigation into the July 28 car crash, which, the survivor’s family alleges, was plotted by Sengar to eliminate her.
The teen was travelling from her hometown Unnao to Raebareli when the car was hit by a speeding truck with its number plate blackened. The girl and her lawyer were critically injured in the incident, in which two of her aunts were killed.
On August 1, the Supreme Court shifted the five cases connected with the Unnao rape case to Delhi, assigned a special judge for day-to-day trial and ordered that the trial be completed within 45 days. The court also ordered central security for the family.
The court had stepped in after a letter from the girl’s family alleging threats from Kuldeep Sengar’s aides. The family, in a letter to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on July 12, alleged grave danger to them from Sengar and his aides. The family had asked for protection, alleging that they had been harassed and intimidated over the past year and pressured to drop the case against the lawmaker.
The teen was moved to AIIMS last month; she is being treated by a multidisciplinary team from the critical care, orthopaedics, trauma surgery and pulmonary medicine departments.
Sengar has been in jail since April last year. After the road accident, the rape survivor’s family named Sengar in their First Information Report.
The case is seen as an example of abuse of power by a politician who was apparently given a long rope by the administration led by his party.
Kuldeep Sengar, a four-time BJP lawmaker, was suspended after his arrest. As fresh allegations emerged against him, the BJP expelled him amid growing criticism about its reluctance to act against the politician.
