‘Kaal’ for my family: Victim on suspension of Sengar’s jail term
Unnao/Ballia (UP), Dec 24: The 2017 Unnao rape survivor on Wednesday termed the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend the jail term of the accused, expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, “kaal” (death) for her family and said she would move the Supreme Court against it.
Meanwhile, women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana, who staged a protest with the rape survivor’s mother at India Gate on Tuesday night, shared a video on X, in which the rape survivor was purportedly heard saying that she had left home in the morning to meet her lawyer but Central Reserve Police force (CRPF) personnel tried to send her back home.
“I was shouting that I need to visit my lawyer. I was shouting in the vehicle as well and then an order came from the top to take me (to meet my lawyer),” she said.
“All I want is justice,” she added.
Bhayana also claimed that the rape survivor was injured in the melee.
Reacting to the Unnao rape survivor’s ordeal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said India is not just becoming a dead economy but also a dead society.
“Is such treatment of a gang rape survivor appropriate? Is it her ‘fault’ that she has the courage to raise her voice for justice? “The fact that her perpetrator (former BJP MLA Sengar) has been granted bail is extremely disappointing and shameful — especially when the survivor is being repeatedly harassed and is living under the shadow of fear,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said in a post in Hindi on X.
“Bail for rapists and treating survivors like criminals — what kind of justice is this? We are not just becoming a dead economy — with such inhuman incidents, we are also turning into a dead society,” he said.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the sentence of Sengar, who is serving a life term in the case, and ordered his release on bail pending the disposal of his appeal against his conviction by a trial court in December 2019.
In its order, the high court directed that Sengar shall not come within a five-kilometre radius of the victim’s residence and threaten the survivor or her mother. It also said a violation of the conditions would automatically lead to the cancellation of his bail.
Sengar, however, will remain in jail since he is also serving a 10-year term in connection with the custodial death of the rape survivor’s father and has not been granted bail in that case.
Reacting to the verdict, the survivor, who was a minor when she was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017, told PTI over the phone from Delhi that security for her family members, lawyers and witnesses has already been withdrawn and the court’s decision has only deepened her fears.
“If the convict gets bail in a case like this, how will the country’s daughters remain safe? For us, this decision is no less than ‘kaal’ (death),” she said.
“Those with money win, those without money lose,” she rued. (PTI)
