The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court to set aside its stay order on the agency's investigation into the Bulandshar gangrapes, ANI reported. The apex court had stayed the inquiry into the assaults, pending a decision on whether the case will be transferred out of Uttar Pradesh based on a plea filed by one of the rape survivors.
On August 29, the court had issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government regarding the case's transfer out of the state, as well as to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for his comments on the brutal incident. The teenager, who was assaulted along with her mother in Bulandshahr on July 30, had moved the apex court seeking an FIR against Khan and for the investigation to be transferred to Delhi.
While hearing the girl's plea, the court questioned whether Khan calling the rapes a political conspiracy "defeated the principles of constitutional compassion" or amounted to freedom of speech. Khan had claimed that Opposition parties in the state could have conspired to defame the government using the gangrapes. The top court said such statements by political leaders "created mistrust in investigations and the entire system".
The incident took place when the family was travelling to Shahjahanpur to attend a relative's funeral. A gang of highway robbers surrounded their car around midnight and forced all of them into a nearby field. There, they gangraped the girl and her mother. The assailants carried out the attack barely 100 metres from a police post. However, the police allegedly took hours to reach the spot.
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