Breaking: Delhi HC sets up court in AIIMS to record statement of Unnao rape victim

The Delhi High Court has allowed the District and Sessions Judge, Tis Hazari Court, Dharmesh Sharma to hold court at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi for the purpose of recording the statement of the Unnao rape survivor..The Notification issued by the Delhi High Court informs that the testimony of the Unnao rape victim shall be recorded in the premise/building of the Trauma Centre of AIIMS in addition to the Tis Hazari Court in the Unnao rape case as well as its related cases..The Notification has come hours after the Supreme Court asked the Delhi High Court to set up a temporary court at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi for the purpose of recording the statement of the Unnao rape survivor..The rape survivor had been admitted in the AIIMS after she met with accident..The Unnao rape case took a controversial turn after a lorry without a number plate rammed into the car in which the victim was travelling. The victim and her lawyer have been critically injured, while two of her aunts passed away..Foul play on the part of BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar – the accused in the rape case – was alleged by the mother of the victim. Sengar has been in prison since last year. The Allahabad High Court had, in April last year, ordered the arrest of Sengar for the alleged rape of the 15-year-old survivor in 2017. The Court had also directed that the investigation of the case be handed over to the CBI..Following the lorry accident, the victim and her family wrote to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in July this year, asking for protection. This prompted the Supreme Court to take up the matter on the judicial side..On August 1, the Supreme Court transferred the trial in four cases relating to the Unnao rape case to Delhi and ordered that the same be held on a day-to-day basis and completed within 45 days. The Court also ordered the State of Uttar Pradesh to pay Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to the victim..Further, the Court directed that the investigation into the accident case be transferred to Delhi. By this order, the Court had also directed to complete its probe within seven days. On August 19, the Court extended this period by two weeks. The Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose today further extended the duration within which the CBI probe should be completed, by two weeks..Read the Notification: