New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list next week for hearing a petition by the Unnao rape victim seeking transfer of a criminal case filed by the father of an accused in her sexual assault case from a lower court in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. was demanded.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices JK Maheshwari and Hema Kohli took note of the arguments of advocate Vrinda Grover for urgent hearing on the fresh petition of the rape victim.
“List next week,” the bench said.
A Delhi court in December 2019 sentenced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to life imprisonment for the abduction and rape of a girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017 when she was a minor.
A local court in Unnao has recently issued a non-bailable warrant against the survivor on a criminal complaint of alleged cheating and forgery filed by the father of Shubham Singh, an accused in the Unnao rape case, in a Delhi court recently.
The transfer petition, filed in the apex court, has alleged that “counter-judicial proceedings” have been initiated against the girl in the Unnao court to advance the defense in the sexual harassment case.
Sengar’s appeal against the conviction and life sentence is pending in the Delhi High Court, which had recently sought a response from the CBI.
The trial court had convicted Sengar under various provisions, including section 376(2) of the IPC, which deals with a public servant who “takes advantage of his official position and commits rape on a woman in his custody … or in the custody of a public servant subordinate to him”.
It had sentenced him to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, stating that the convict would remain in jail for “the remainder of his natural biological life”, and also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on him.
The trial, which began on August 5, 2019, was shifted from Unnao to Delhi and was conducted on a day-to-day basis following the directions of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had taken cognizance of the rape victim’s letter to the then Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi.
It had on August 1, 2019 transferred all the five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court to a Delhi court with a direction to conduct daily hearings and complete the trial within 45 days.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)