Court Asks Govt to Provide Accommodation to Unnao Rape Survivor & Kin in Delhi

Protests against Unnao and Kathua rape incidents in Amritsar. 

(Photo: PTI)

A Delhi court on Tuesday, 24 September issued a slew of directions under the witness protection guidelines for arranging accommodation for the 2017 Unnao rape survivor and her family in Delhi after the Uttar Pradesh government said they wanted to reside in the national capital apprehending threat in their home state.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma directed that the rape survivor, who is likely to be discharged from AIIMS on Wednesday, and her family members — mother, two sisters and one brother — be temporarily accommodated in the hostel of the Jay Prakash Narayan Trauma Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi for the next seven days, a lawyer privy to the proceedings said.

The woman is admitted in AIIMS following an accident on 28 July and the family is under the CRPF security as per the Supreme Court's order.

The rape survivor's mother had a discussion with the judge about their relocation arrangements and said that they be allowed to live in Delhi as they apprehend threat to their life and liberty in case they go back to reside at their native village in Unnao district, the lawyer said after in-camera proceedings.

Court to Hear the Matter on 28 Sept

The court's directions came on the report filed by the Uttar Pradesh government stating that the family wanted to reside in the national capital.

The report was filed as per the court's earlier directions to the UP government to apprise it about the possible measures that could be taken for relocating the woman and her family to a safe place.

The court has put up the matter for further hearing on 28 September.

In the report filed on behalf of Special Secretary of the UP government, it was indicated that the counsel for the rape survivor and her family, Dharmendra Mishra, also had a correspondence with the concerned authorities with regard to their security and conveyed that the family wanted to reside in Delhi.

The court said Mishra has undertaken that he would look for a suitable accommodation for the victim and her family members so that they could shift to a new accommodation with necessary security arrangements.

Mishra also asked to ascertain the educational needs of the children as also the follow up medical treatment for the victim/ survivor in a hospital near to their new accommodation, if desirable or else to continue with the follow up with the JPN Trauma Centre, the court said in its order.

The woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao in 2017, when she was a minor.

The court had framed charges against Sengar and co-accused Shashi Singh in the case.