New Delhi: A Delhi court has ordered further investigations against 2017 rape victim Unnao and her family over allegations made by relatives of the accused in the case involving former BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accusing them of forging the victim’s identity documents to wrongly implicate the accused.
The order was passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhavaya Karhele of Saket Courts on Tuesday, who pointed out “multiple loopholes” and “lack of critical examination of witnesses” in the charge sheet filed by the police.
The order came on the basis of an application filed by Additional Public Prosecutor Akshmani Tripathi, who sought further investigation citing procedural lapses and shortcomings in the investigation. He told the court that the investigation and indictment submitted were not sufficient to begin the trial of the victim and her family due to the presence of multiple material gaps and the failure to record the statements of important witnesses.
In 2018, Shashi Singh’s husband – the accused who was acquitted in 2019 – filed a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery against the victim, her mother and uncle at Makhi police station in Unnao. He claimed in the FIR that they submitted a fake school transfer certificate to Unnao police to verify its age while filing the complaint against Sengar and Singh.
Shashi Singh, who allegedly took the victim to Sengar’s house on the promise of a job, was arrested in 2018. While Sengar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for rape of a minor in 2017, the trial court acquitted co-accused Singh in December 2019. An indictment in the matter was filed in June 2019.
In his order, the judge noted that despite the availability of sufficient evidence, the investigating officer chose not to include it in the indictment. He also noted that many important witnesses were not questioned and no expert opinion was sought regarding the authenticity or fabrication of the documents in question.
“There are sufficient grounds for further investigation into this case,” the judge said.
“Given that the present FIR relates to the year 2018, considering the seriousness of the offense and considering the past conduct of the IO, further investigation is also directed to be conducted by a police officer not below the rank of Inspector,” the order said.
A copy of the order has been sent to the Superintendent of Police, Unnao and Superintendent of Makhi Police Station with directions to complete the investigation in a “time-bound” manner. The court also asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to submit progress reports every two weeks. The matter was listed for further hearing on May 18.
