New Delhi: The Unnao rape victim faced several trials and tribulations in her pursuit for justice, observed a Delhi court while convicting expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the case for raping the woman in 2017 when she was a minor.
The hapless young woman and her family had to endure several harrowing experiences as she tried to take on her violator, a powerful politician of her land. They even had to make a humiliating exit when they tried to give the assault complaint to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the court observed.
Scare tactics backfired
Sengar used several ploys to prove the woman’s allegations wrong in the case. He questioned why the woman took two months and 10 days to file a complaint. The court observed that the woman was able to give a satisfactory reply to the argument.
The court said the rape survivor's testimony was ‘truthful and unblemished’ against a ‘powerful person’.
Sengar’s move to file a fake case against the woman's father and dug up an old case against her uncle too backfired.
School records to the rescue
Sengar’s advocate tried from the beginning to prove that the woman was not a minor when the assault happened. However, the records of the school register proved the victim's contention right.
‘Patriarchal approach’
The court also observed the whole handling of the complaint reeked of patriarchy. The probe and the subsequent interventions gave scant humanitarian consideration to the victim, who was from a poor family in UP.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma observed that the investigation did not appear to have been fair to the victim.
“The case manifests the multitude of restrictions and taboo within which many women in rural areas are brought up, grow and survive. It epitomises the fear ingrained in the minds of young girls in the countryside or elsewhere against reporting issues of sexual assault by powerful persons," the judge said.
"This investigation has suffered from patriarchal approach or inherent outlook to brush the issues of sexual violence against children under the carpet apart from exhibiting lack of sensitivity and humane approach," he added.
The woman's statements were recorded after she was summoned to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office multiple times. The judge noted that successive statements of the survivor 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 cases.’
'CBI leaked her statements'
Some in the CBI leaked crucial details of the woman's statements, the court noted. An attempt to create a smokescreen in the case was made using these details. Though the CBI took over the case in April 2018, the charge-sheet was submitted only a year later on October 3, 2019.
During this time, several incidents, including the car accident of the victim, happened.
Phone call records of Sengar and the woman's uncle were not checked in detail. These examinations could have become a turning point in the case, the court observed.
Sengar reduced to tears
The former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was reduced to tears as the judge read out the verdict, convicting him in the sensational case. His aide Shashi Singh too broke down. Sengar, who exuded confidence in his replies to the media persons during the trial, was visibly shattered after the court verdict on Monday. Sengar's sister was seen consoling him.
People swarmed the Tis Hazari Court in Delhi by 3 pm on Monday to hear the court verdict. Even as the judge began to read the verdict, Shashi Singh started crying. However, the court acquitted him.
Sengar was convicted for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act under sections, including those dealing with penetrative sexual assault against a child by a public servant.
Justice after 2.5 years
The woman was assaulted after promising her a job at the Anganwadi by the people's representative, aide, his son and friends. When it became evident that she would speak out, the culprits went after her and her family. They claimed the lives of her father and two aunts.
The woman got justice 2.5 years after the assault.
The assault
The family complained that the 17-year-old from the Makhi village was missing on June 4, 2017. The girl alleged that she was raped by then BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, aide Shashi Singh's son and friends. The police, however, refused to file a case against Sengar and instead urged her to withdraw the complaint.
While the woman and her family were returning home after completing the court procedures in connection with the case, her father was assaulted by a gang, including the MLA's brother. Her father was also arrested in a fabricated case.
The woman then tried to kill herself in front of the home of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The very next day, her father died while in police custody.
In between, the CBI filed a case against Sengar after the court intervened. But her family continued to be hunted down and her uncle was jailed in connection with an old case. The woman and her family then wrote to Supreme Court Chief Justice about the threats they were facing.
While the woman, her kin and advocates were returning after meeting their uncle, their car met with an accident in which two of her aunts were killed. The woman also suffered grievous injuries. All these incidents hit the headlines and the Supreme Court intervened in the case. The court ordered the victim to be moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The court instructed the woman's kin against speaking to media persons.
All the cases against Sengar were also transferred to the court in the national capital. Though it was instructed that the verdict should be given within 45 days, the judgment was pronounced only after five months on Monday.
Still not able to return
Even though her treatment at the Delhi hospital is completed, the woman and her family are in no position to return to their native place as the threat by Sengar's kin loom large.
The Delhi Women's Commission has provided shelter to them. As the UP government was also under a cloud of suspicion, the CRPF was given the charge of security.
(With inputs from PTI)
