All five Unnao cases transferred to Delhi

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete within seven days its probe of Sunday’s road crash that left the 19-year-old woman and her lawyer battling for life and two of her aunts, one of whom was a witness in the rape case, dead.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the transfer to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh of all five cases linked to the 2017 Unnao gang-rape, in which legislator Kuldep Singh Sengar is the main accused, and ruled that the trials be completed within 45 days of commencement.

Unnao rape came to light after the survivor attempted self-immolation in front of the house of Adityanath on April 8, 2018, following which Sengar was arrested. (AFP)

“The trial judge (Delhi) to whom the cases have been earmarked, will commence the trial forthwith on a day-to day basis and will ensure completion of trial of all the five cases within 45 days from commencement of the trial,” the court ruled. It named Dharmesh Sharma, district judge (west) at Delhi’s Tis Hazari courts, to oversee the proceedings.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete within seven days its probe of Sunday’s road crash that left the 19-year-old woman and her lawyer battling for life and two of her aunts, one of whom was a witness in the rape case, dead.

“However, as an exception, CBI can take another week, but in no circumstance shall the probe extend beyond a fortnight,” the CJI said.

An extension of the deadline by an additional seven days will be allowed only in “exceptional circumstances” and that too with the specific permission of the apex court, ruled the bench, which ordered a payment of ~25 lakh in compensation to the 19-year-old rape survivor by the Uttar Pradesh government of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The slew of orders, which came on a day the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it had expelled Sengar, are designed to bring to a speedy culmination cases related to the gang-rape, which allegedly took place at the Unnao house of the legislator, a four-time member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, in June 2017 when the victim was a minor.

The rape came to light after the survivor attempted self-immolation in front of the house of Adityanath on April 8, 2018, following which Sengar was arrested. Her father died in judicial custody where he was sent for alleged illegal possession of arms — the family alleged he had been framed — after suffering severe injuries in an assault blamed on Sengar’s brother and his men.

The 52-year-old MLA, who has kept a low profile in Sitapur district jail after his arrest, returned to the headlines following Sunday’s road crash, in which a speeding truck smashed into a car carrying the woman, her lawyer and aunts in Rae Bareli .The survivor’s family accused him of engineering the crash, after which the case was handed over to the CBI, which booked him, his brother Manjoj Singh and eight others on charges of murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation.

Sengar has denied the allegation of rape and any involvement in the truck-car collision.

“We were fighting [the cases] here [in UP], and we will continue to fight there [in Delhi] also,” his lawyer Awadhesh Singh told Reuters after the court’s order on Thursday.

The bench led by Gogoi allowed the accused in all five cases to approach the Supreme Court for any modification or cancellation of its order, given that it was delivered without the top court hearing the accused because of the peculiar circumstances of the case.

In other orders on Thursday, the Supreme Court handed to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) the job of providing security to the rape survivor, her lawyer and her family members — her mother, four siblings, an uncle who is prison and his immediate kin. The bench asked to be informed on Friday if its order was being complied with.

Counsel of the survivor’s family was asked to tell the court if they wanted her shifted from Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University, where she was hospitalised on Sunday, to any other hospital in the country for more advanced treatment. The bench will also hear a request to move the uncle from Rae Barelli jail to New Delhi’s Tihar over security concerns.

King George’s Medical University in Lucknow said on Thursday that the woman remained unconscious and in critical condition with a head injury and multiple leg fractures. Three security personnel tasked with protecting the rape survivor were suspended on Thursday on charges of dereliction of duty, the police in Unnao said.

The rape survivor’s sister said the Supreme Court order had revived hope for the family. “I am sure the court will punish the guilty who tried to kill my sister. This accident was a conspiracy by the MLA [Sengar] to kill the victim, as well as the witnesses, to weaken the case,” she said.

She urged the top court to also probe the cases slapped on her uncle, who is lodged in a jail in Rae Bareli. “He is the one who has evidence against the MLA. That is why he was booked under false charges and put behind bars,” she said.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the rape survivor’s lawyer had been facing threats to his life since he took up her case .

“Our worst fears came true on Sunday when all those fighting for justice met with a fatal accident. We had a premonition and hence had been writing to the police — from the station house officer (SHO) to superintendent of police (SP) — for security,” a relative of the advocate said.

“He (lawyer) had written to several authorities about threats. When he got no response, he applied for a gun licence in September last year,” said the relative

“I fear I can be murdered,” the lawyer wrote to the Unnao district magistrate on July 15, requesting an arms licence to be given to him as soon as possible. District magistrate Devendra Kumar Pandey said, “I received a letter from the lawyer regarding arms licence; however, there was no such formal application pending with my office staff. The local police had to complete formalities before it comes to my office.”

Sengar’s expulsion from the BJP was announced the same day as the Supreme Court’s orders following widespread political and public outrage. BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said there was no place in the party for a person facing serious charges. Representing Bangarmau assembly constituency in Unnao, Sengar joined the BJP in 2017.

“The BJP finally acknowledges having empowered a criminal and takes some action to correct itself and move in the direction of justice for a young woman who has suffered immeasurably,” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi wrote in a series of tweets.

“Why do we give people like Kuldeep Sengar the strength and protection of political power and abandon their victims to battle for their lives alone?”

She welcomed the Supreme Court’s rulings. “Grateful to the SC for taking cognisance of the ‘Jungle Raj’ being unleashed in UP,” Priyanka Gandhi wrote.

Separately, the Congress party hit out at Adityanath, under whom, it said Uttar Pradesj had become ‘”Apradh Pradesh.” Apradh, a Hindi word, translate as crime in English.

“The Adityanath government has become notorious; it is protecting the guilty and criminals in the last couple of years. Uttar Pradesh has now become ‘Aparadh Pradesh’ under Adityanath and BJP government,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal called the Supreme Court order a landmark. “This will enhance the faith of people in the judiciary and will serve as a lesson to those who make a mockery of law,” he said in a Twitter post.