Supreme Court jolts into action after nation-wide outrage over Unnao Tragedy

Its been two years since the then 17-year-old girl, a minor from Unnao filed an FIR against the BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for raping her. The rape survivor has knocked all possible doors and offices but to no avail. The case made headlines when she along with her family tried self immolate outside UP CM Adityanath residence in 2018.

I was raped. I have been running pillar to post for the last year but no one is listening to me. I want to see all of them arrested, otherwise, I will kill myself. I had even approached the CM to no result. When we lodged an FIR, we were threatened.

Lucknow: A woman & her family allegedly attempted suicide outside CM Residence. Her family alleges the woman was raped by a BJP MLA & his accomplices & no action is being taken. pic.twitter.com/Srl5yQqhXP

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 8, 2018

During this time, the BJP MLA and his men have been harassing the family to withdraw the case. Her father was arrested on false charges and killed in custody. Her uncle is languishing in jail. The only witness was also arrested on false charges and also died mysteriously. Two days ago, a truck hit the car she was in with her aunts and her lawyer. The accident killed her two aunts and the survivor and the lawyer are in hospital with critical injuries.

She has written a letter to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, two weeks before the accident, alleging threats to her life from the BJP MLA. In the letter to the CJI, the young rape victim, her mother, sister, uncle, and aunt alleged that the henchmen of the accused, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, were threatening to implicate them in false cases if they did not settle the case.

But it wasn’t till the fatal road accident and the national outcry that it followed that the supreme court has acted on the case. Supreme Court has asked to transfer all five cases in connection with the rape survivor, from Lucknow to Delhi. The court has also said the trial in the case should be completed within 45 days. The court also gave Rs 25 lakh compensation to the rape survivor to be paid by the Uttar Pradesh government.

The CBI  lawyer had asked for the case to the adjourned till Friday. But the Supreme court refused to accept the plea. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected Mehta’s contention, saying the CBI director can gather the information of the cases on the telephone and apprise the bench on Thursday.

Faced with massive public outrage, BJP which was trying to discredit the rape survivor and was protecting Kuldeep Sengar has now expelled him since the accident.

In this climate of fear and political clout, We cannot expect much from Political parties, but the Supreme court actions also look like too little too late. If the supreme court had acted a year ago, most of her family would still be alive and she would not be in a hospital with fatal injuries.