Not enough evidence against rape accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar: UP govt tells HC

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath government for not arresting its rape accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao gangrape case.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath government for not arresting its rape accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao gangrape case.

ALLAHABAD: The Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath government, which is facing the heat after one of its MLAs was accused of raping an 18-year-old woman of Unnao district, on Thursday said it has found no evidence against the rape-accused legislator as of now. The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday sought the state government's stand on the Unnao gangrape case allegedly involving a BJP MLA and his aides and details of action taken. The government told the court that till now sufficient evidence regarding Kuldeep Singh Sengar's involvement in the Unnao gangrape case could not be found and the MLA will be arrested if enough evidence against him is found. The court expressed unhappiness over the government's submission and flayed it saying whether it is necessary to wait for the evidence to arrest the accused in such serious cases. The court took cognizance of the gangrape case on a letter to the court by senior lawyer Gopal Swaroop Chaturvedi detailing the incident. A bench of Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Suneet Kumar has reserved its order in the case for Friday. The court also questioned the conduct of the police in the case, saying whom will a victim approach to register a complaint. According to PTI, the court referred to the SIT report and said, "according to it, medical officers and police officers, all were hand in glove with the accused to save them and you acted on this report against those officers but for arresting rape accused you need to do further investigation." "Police was not ready to register FIR of the minor rape victim. In spite of the SIT report, you are repeating that we can only take any action after further investigation, if this is the conduct of the police in state, whom will a victim approach to register a complaint. If this is the stand you are repeatedly taking, then we will be forced to observe in our order that law and order has collapsed in the state'," it said. Earlier on Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh police registered an FIR against Kuldeep Singh Sengar. The FIR was lodged hours after after the government said it would hand the probe over to the CBI. The Unnao police registered the case against Sengar under various sections of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the Makhi police station area. The FIR has been registered under Sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her into marriage), 363 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation).