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Unnao verdict: CBI to seek removal of court’s remarks
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will seek the removal of some “unwarranted remarks” of a special court that pulled up the agency for its delay in filing the charge sheet in the rape case involving expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar, agency officials said on Tuesday.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will seek the removal of some “unwarranted remarks” of a special court that pulled up the agency for its delay in filing the charge sheet in the rape case involving expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar, agency officials said on Tuesday.
The court also slammed CBI for not having a woman investigation officer for the case; it convicted Sengar on Monday of abducting and raping a minor girl in 2017.
CBI officials said that the criticism is unwarranted and pointed out that the charge sheet against Senger was filed within the stipulated 90-day period. The case was shifted to the federal agency in April 2018 on the Allahabad high court’s order.
A CBI official said on condition of anonymity that a male officer probed the case under the overall supervision of a female joint director. The female officer supervised the recording of statements, collection of evidence etc, the official added.
Former CBI director A P Singh said the agency should get these harsh remarks expunged. “I am sure the CBI will go to the high court to expunge these remarks and get their counter.”
But N R Wasan, a former CBI special director, said, going by the criticism of the agency’s investigation and alleged delay in filing the final report, it must look into the conduct of its officials investigating the case and supervising it and hold them accountable.
CBI has previously been praised for ensuring convictions in cases of sexual crimes including a gang rape during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Unlike the Gujarat case, where CBI won the victim’s trust by moving the high court seeking harsher punishment for the culprits and security was provided to the witnesses, in this particular case, the special court said no such effort was made to make the victim comfortable.
“CBI has not explained the fact that when the investigation in the alleged kidnapping, illegal confinement and gang rape… had been taken over by them on 13.04.2018 ... and it is also clear from the police report that almost entire investigation had been completed by the end of July 2018, what prevented the CBI from not filing the charge sheet/final report without any further delay…,’’ the court remarked while convicting Sengar. It added that the charge sheet was filed belatedly over a year later on October 2.
The court said that it appears that somewhere the investigation in the case has not been fair to the rape victim and her family members. “The investigation has not been conducted by a woman officer as mandated by Section 24 of the POCSO [Protection of Children from Sexual Offences] Act and successive statements of the victim girl ‘AS’ had been recorded by calling her at the CBI office without bothering for the kind of harassment, anguish, and re-victimisation that occurs to a victim of sexual assault in such case,” district judge Dharmesh Kumar said in his verdict.
