Ground report: How Unnao rape accused BJP lawmaker silenced his villagers

It has been more than five days since the Unnao rape survivor was admitted to a hospital in Lucknow after a deadly car crash. Several people have been visiting the family at the hospital, offering support to them. However, none from their native village, apart from the few close relatives, has turned up at the hospital.

The girl was born in Makhi village, which lies 60km from Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow. It is also the home to BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who had allegedly raped her.

The girl accused Sengar of raping her at his residence in 2017. She was just 17 years then. The Uttar Pradesh Police filed a rape case against Sengar after the teen tried to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow in April 2018.

On Sunday, her car was hit by a truck when she was going to meet her uncle Mahesh Singh in Rae Bareli. Two of her relatives were killed in the accident, while the rape survivor and her lawyer are battling for their lives at a Lucknow hospital.

The rape survivor's family alleged Sengar conspired to kill her.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Sengar and 10 others on charges of murder.

Sengar, the 'ruler' of Makhi

Makhi that falls between Miyaganj and Unnao town is a discreet village.

Though accident involving the rape survivor had hit the national headlines, villagers here appear to be ignoring it. They refused to address questions from mediapersons and hid behind the doors when someone knocked their doors.

The Unnao survivor lived in a tiny mud house that had no proper roof and doors.

Sengar's sprawling premise lies opposite to her house. The CCTV cameras fitted on the compound wall help Sengar observe people's movements in the vicinity. His men will harass the villagers if they interact with strangers. Sengar made money from agriculture and jewellery business.

He enjoys huge clout in the village. The villagers here only talk about 'Sengar Bhai's magnanimity'. “He would give nothing less than Rs 10,000 for a girl's wedding,” said a villager.

Little wonder, then, that villagers watched silently when Sengar's men had beaten up the survivor's father.

After filing a complaint against Sengar, her father visited the village rarely fearing attacks. His worst fears came true when he was brutally assaulted by MLA's men the day he came to meet his grandmother. The Police did not file case against the MLA, but they took her father into custody under arms act. A week later, he was found dead in jail.

The post-mortem report said the 14 wounds on his body were the cause of the father’s death.

The victim's family pointed out that Sengar's men went to each house asking people to give statement about the attack. However, the police at Makhi said that they had not received any complaints. The cops claimed that heavy security cover had been given to the victim’s house and the MLA's bungalow for nearly a year. These are the words of excuse given by the police who hesitated to file a case against the MLA even though evidence were plenty against him.

It is not just before the MLA that the village bows its head. His wife Sangeeta Singh was the president of the Unnao district panchayat. The family still has strong ties with senior political leaders. Aradhana, the wife of Sengar's brother Atul Singh, who is also in jail, is the current Makhi panchayat president. Another brother Manoj Singh is the block panchayat president.

“How can a hapless villagers dare to stand up against the family that virtually rules their land?” ask the Unnao survivor's family.

'They will kill us'

Now the mother of the survivor says Sengar's men will kill me and my daughters. "I hope that there was some way my youngest daughter could continue her studies. Often me and my daughters have to go without food.

"We are scared to go back. His men are waiting outside. They would kill me and my daughters, nobody would even know."

Earlier, she told the Women's Commission that Sengar had sexually abused the rape survivor's sister too.

Describing the hardships that she had to endure, the woman told Manorama that the villagers were even ordered not to attend her husband's funeral rites.

"Our relatives were also scared to speak to us," she said, adding that the sexual abuse complaint against the BJP MLA was sent to the offices of the President and the Prime Minister.

"They are eliminating all the men in our family. They brutally killed my husband. They trapped her chacha (victim's uncle) in a fabricated case and locked him up in the jail," she said.

"We grew up hearing good things about the MLA. He had also visited our house several times. He used to ask my mother to make omelette for him. After all this, he harassed my family to no end," she said.