Supreme Court to take up SOS letter written by Unnao rape survivor’s family to CJI

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Supreme Court of India is all set to take upon its judicial side, a letter written by the family of the Unnao rape survivor on July 12, 2019, to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi bringing to his attention the threats that they had received from the rape accused. The matter will be listed for hearing tomorrow.

The CJI has also asked the Supreme Court registry to give him a report on why the letter written by the Unnao rape survivor’s family had not been placed before him.

“We try to do something constructive in the midst of this highly destructive volatile environment and this happens,” said the CJI.

On July 21, the car in which the rape survivor, her family and lawyer were travelling was hit by a speeding truck in Rae Bareli, killing two members of the group and leaving her and the advocate critically injured.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a four-term MLA from Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP) is accused of raping the woman in 2017 after she visited his Unnao home for a job. He has been in jail since April 2019.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has transferred the accident case involving the Unnao rape survivor to the CBI, which in turn has registered a case against the suspended BJP MLA Sengar and 10 others accused.

The agency has also registered a case against 20 unknown persons under charges of criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and criminal intimidation.

The victim’s mother had filed a transfer petition before the Supreme Court in January seeking the transfer of the case to Delhi from Lucknow for a fair trial. The Supreme Court had on April 16, 2019, issued a notice to the CBI and others, on the petition. The matter is pending before the apex court since then. The CBI is yet to file its reply to the transfer petition.

 

Read the Order here:

[pdfviewer]https://cdn.theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/31190321/24308_2019_1_804_15545_Order_31-Jul-2019.pdf[/pdfviewer]