Sengar case: Court orders framing of charges against cops

One-liner: A special court has ordered to proceed with the matter of framing charges against three UP policemen who initially handled the rape case against ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2017 for failing to record allegations of the minor victim against the leader, officials said.

Petition rejected: The court recently rejected the petition of Kunwar Bahadur Singh, then posted as Circle Officer of Safipur in Unnao, seeking discharge from the case filed by the CBI.

Raped by Sengar: The case was lodged under Section 166A of the IPC, for not recording the victim's complaint that she was raped by Sengar on June 4, 2017, they said.  

Self-immolation bid: Facing inaction even after her complaint to the CM's Office remained unaddressed, the victim attempted to self-immolate in front of the CM's residence in Lucknow on April 8, 2018, which snowballed into a major political issue in the state.

Court order: Besides Singh, the court has also ordered to proceed with the case of framing of charges against D P Shukla, ex-SHO of Makhi Police Station and Digvijay Singh, sub-inspector, who were also charge-sheeted, they said.

Gang-raped: It is alleged that the victim in her application to CM Yogi Adityanath on Aug 17, 2017, had alleged that she was raped by Sengar on June 4 that year and later gang-raped by three other men on June 11, but the police did not take any action on her complaint.

• Her complaint was registered in CM's grievance portal and forwarded to Kunwar Bahadur Singh for inquiry

Complaint made: The victim had appeared before Singh and admitted that she had made the complaint, the CBI inquiry showed. Singh had forwarded the complaint to DP Shukla who handed it over to Digvijay Singh who had conducted the inquiry.

Inquiry report: In the inquiry report submitted on Aug 24, 2017, Digvijay Singh said a case was already registered, referring to the incident on June 11, 2017, at Makhi Police Station in which a charge sheet has already been filed but it did not say anything about rape by Sengar on June 4, 2017. 

Sengar sentenced: Sengar has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court for raping the minor who had come to his house seeking employment on June 4, 2017.

• Without giving specific findings in his report to senior officers, Kunwar Bahadur Singh termed the minor's complaint against the then MLA false and baseless

Allegation: The agency has alleged that the three officers did not perform their duties as per the statutory mandate in respect of the rape complaint against Sengar even after receipt of the first information of cognizable offence and had failed to record the information being public servants and hence committed an offence under IPC section 166A.

Bottom line: The court also directed to proceed with the matter of framing of charges for the offence against all three.

Source: PTI