Unnao rape survivor moves Supreme Court seeking transfer of case filed by father of accused against her to Delhi

The survivor of the 2017 Unnao gangrape case has filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking transfer of a case lodged against her, from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. .The plea contended that an Unnao court, despite knowing that the trial in gang rape case happened in Delhi and her anticipatory bail plea is pending before the Allahabad High Court, issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against her. The said warrant was issued based on a complaint filed in 2018 by the father of one of the accused, Shubham Singh.The complaint alleged that the survivor had forged a proof of age document provided to the police. A Sessions Court had rejected an application for quashing the complaint. The same court has also not decided the application moved by her seeking cancellation/withdrawal of the warrant, it was pointed out.The plea before the top court has, therefore, also sought an ex-parte interim stay on the NBW. The plea said that despite the juvenility of the survivor having already been decided by the trial court in Delhi which convicted prime accused, former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the Unnao court is seeking her presence in the case against her.This is leaving her vulnerable to grave and real threat to her life, the plea alleged. "A bare perusal of the chronology of events leads to the irresistible conclusion that the case before the ACJM-03 is being pursued with the oblique motive to intimidate, silence and harass the Petitioner, and abuse the criminal justice process to drag the Petitioner out of New Delhi and bring her to Unnao - where she will not only be at very grave risk of harm and injury, but also be tormented by the memory of being repeatedly raped; and where her father was mercilessly murdered. These coercive circumstances are engineered so that the criminal trial against Shubham Singh is derailed, where the Petitioner is yet to be cross examined," the plea said.The lower court has now initiated proceedings to declare the survivor a proclaimed offender as she has not been able to depose before it, the petition added.The case may therefore be transferred to Delhi to "prevent the judicial process from becoming an instrument of oppression and harassment," the plea prayed. .The Unnao rape survivor was kidnapped and raped by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in June 2017. She was then sold for ₹60,000, after which she was recovered.In 2018, 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 were critically injured, while two of her aunts passed away. The lawyer eventually succumbed to his injuries. The wife of the lawyer had alleged foul play on the part Sengar.In August 2019, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial in four cases relating to the case to Delhi and ordered that the same be held on a day-to-day basis and completed within 45 days.In December 2019, Sengar was convicted and sentenced for rape and subsequently for his role in the death of the victim's father in police custody. His appeal against the same as well as bail plea is pending before the Delhi High Court. .The petition before the Supreme Court has been filed through advocate Siddhant Buxy, settled by advocate Vrinda Grover, and drawn by advocates Soutik Banerjee, Devika Tulsiani and Rishikesh Kumar.