Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday mocked the complainant in the Unnao rape case and laughed at her for staging a protest in Delhi, asking why she was at India Gate when her home is in Unnao, The Indian Express reported.
The complainant and her mother on Tuesday protested at India Gate against the High Court having suspended the life sentence of former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the rape case and having granted him bail. However, they were dragged and forcefully removed from the protest site by security personnel.
Rajbhar, commenting on the developments on Wednesday, laughed loudly and asked: “India Gate? Ghar to unka Unnao hai [Why India gate? She is from Unnao].”
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party leader was responding to reporters seeking his response to the woman being removed from India Gate by security personnel.
The state minister was further quoted as saying by The Indian Express: “The court has issued directions that Sengar would stay away from the family, maintaining a 5-km distance. Why a dharna in Delhi when the court has given directions ensuring security. Where is the question of lack of security?”
Sengar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 for raping the woman in Unnao in 2017. She was a minor at the time.
In March 2020, Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Jaideep Singh Sengar, among others, were also sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for the killing of the woman’s father in judicial custody.
On account of the conviction in the second case, Sengar remains in jail despite getting bail from the Delhi High Court.
Nevertheless, the complainant told PTI on Wednesday that the court’s decision was “no less than death” for her.
“If the convict gets bail in cases like this, how will the country’s daughters remain safe?” she asked. She also said that she would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
A video of the complainant and her mother being removed from the protest site led Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to ask in a social media post if “such treatment of a gangrape survivor” was appropriate.
Gandhi said that Sengar being granted bail was “extremely disappointing and shameful – especially when the survivor is being repeatedly harassed, and is living under the shadow of fear”.
“Bail for rapists, and treating survivors like criminals – what kind of justice is this?” he asked.
Also read:
Explained: Why Delhi HC released a former BJP MLA convicted of raping a minor
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