Unnao case: Top cop addresses accused BJP MLA as 'mananiye'

Lucknow : A joint press conference of Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar over the Unnao rape case on Thursday, ruffled some feathers among the media persons after the accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was referred to as 'mananiye' (honourable).

On being questioned, DGP Singh responded, "There is no harm in giving respect to an MLA. Even if he is an accused, he is not guilty yet."

"Nobody is defending him, all we are saying is that we have to hear both sides," he added.

The rape case against the BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Bangarmau district in Unnao as well as the case of custodial death of the victim's father were transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Principal Secretary (Home) confirmed the move during his address.

Elaborating the details of the alleged rape, Kumar said that the incident dates back to June 4, 2017.

According to the Principal Secretary, the victim had gone missing on June 11, 2017, and her mother had registered a missing person complaint on June 12.

"Thereafter, the victim was produced before the court and her statement was recorded under Section 164 of the CrPc. Based on her statement, two accused were arrested but the MLA was not mentioned in the statement," he added.

Meanwhile, the custodial death of the victim's father, who was arrested on April 8, was probed by Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Luv Kumar and a Magisterial Committee.

"Both the reports found that the adequate medical test before admission to the jail was not done. After he was lodged, he was admitted to the jail's clinic and from there he was referred to the district hospital. While referring him, the prison clinic had mentioned of internal injury to the man and that he be admitted and treated at the district hospital, but in spite of that, he was sent back to the jail.

Based on this, the doctors' negligence was noted, in which the district hospital's CMS, one of whom was the emergency medical officer. The action is being taken to suspend two and department-level action will be taken against three other doctors who had examined and who knew about the injury," Kumar said.

DGP OP Singh said that the SIT team of the Lucknow zone police constituted for the case would also continue its investigation.

Earlier in the day, an FIR was registered against Sengar.

On April 8, the victim, along with her family members, had tried to commit suicide in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow, alleging that she was raped by Sengar and his fellow accomplices.

Prior to this, on April 3, the rape victim's father was thrashed by the accused MLA's brother for refusing to withdraw the FIR over the rape, and on April 5, he died in hospital. However, the family cried foul alleging that he was murdered.

On Tuesday, the MLA's brother Atul Singh, along with three others, was arrested from Unnao on the directions of the DGP, by the Lucknow crime branch team.

The victim's family had alleged that the accused MLA's brother had thrashed the victim's father on April 3 for refusing to withdraw the FIR over the rape.

As many as six police personnel were also suspended for allegedly beating up the victim's father.