Exclusive Interview: "Rape Survivor's Family Misused The Access They Had To Us"

Documents related to investigations into the Unnao rape case reveal that it could have been handled better and quicker

- Puja Awasthi

Much before she lost consciousness, fractured her cheekbone, jawbone, collarbone and shoulder, dislocated her right elbow and had the right side of her ribs broken in multiple places, a young woman cried many a time for help.

One such cry for help was to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, according to a statement the Unnao rape survivor made before a magistrate in a court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Lucknow on April 16, 2018 (a copy of this statement and all other documents referred to in this report are available with THE WEEK). “On 17/8/2017, I went with my uncle to give the letter to Yogiji,” reads her statement. “He said he will get the matter investigated. I went to Delhi. Ten days had passed. Yogiji did not take any action.” This was a meeting before the survivor’s much-publicised attempt at self-immolation in front of the chief minister’s residence in April 2018. Made under Section 164 of the CrPC, the statement will be valid even in the event of her death.

Before the attempt to kill herself, the survivor and her family had tried many times to name Bangarmau MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, now expelled from the BJP, in the rape case. In the aforementioned statement, the survivor notes, “On 4/6/2017, around 8pm, my neighbour—my sister-inlaw in relation—Shashi Singh, took me to get me a job. I did not tell

anyone at home. She took me to the home of Kuldeep Singh Sengar.... (He) pushed me on the bed. I did not raise my voice as he said that he would kill me if I shouted. He took offmy clothes and then his. He had physical relations with me. He told me whatever is happening is good. He then told me to go. I put on my clothes. Shashi Singh was waiting in the courtyard. I did not tell her anything. She did not ask me anything.... I did not tell my mother anything out of fear.”