In a fresh development in the Unnao Rape case in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was involved, following the court’s order, an FIR has been lodged against the victim, her mother and an uncle for allegedly submitting forged age certificate to the police to prove that the victim was a minor.

Alleged forging of age certificate

According to The Quint, on December 23 the case was filed at the district’s Makhi police station. It was done after a local court ordered for the registration of the case against the three people. The complaint was filed by Harpal Singh, whose son and wife have been accused in the case.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Makhi police station Dinesh Mishra said that the complaint has alleged that the victim’s kin prepared a forged school transfer certificate. According to the officer, the complaint also claimed that the victim’s mother and uncle have used fake signatures of the principal and Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of Rae Bareli district, as reported by The Indian Express. The accused’s father further claimed that both the education department official and the school principal have denied signing the certificate.

Harpal Singh in his complaint claims that the victim had an affair with another man Awadesh Tiwari and she had eloped with him, only to return some time later. Upon returning, Singh claims that the victim asked his son, Shubham to marry her. When the Shubham denied, she filed a case against him and his mother, as per Harpal Singh, reported by The Quint.

A case has been filed against the victim and her family members under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code, reported India Today.

According to the media reports, the rape survivor’s uncle is presently in jail in connection with another case.

The Case

Unnao rape case received national attention after a minor girl attempted suicide outside the official residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for demanding the justice against an MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for allegedly raping her, day after her 55-year-old father was manhandled and thrashed by the main accused MLA’s brother. The next day her father succumbed to the injuries and died. This incident led to a widespread uproar in the nation, demanding justice for the minor. Major national media giants picked up the news, and the details of the case started emerging.

Timeline of The Events

As The Logical Indian had reported earlier, the then minor was raped by the MLA and his brother in June 2017. She had immediately lodged an FIR seeking justice. However, the inactions by the local police lead her to approach the court under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 156 (3). However, this was also in vain, with the hearing of the case being postponed for over a year. Moreover, she alleged that the accused and his men continuously threatened her family. Braving all the odds, the girl and her family kept fighting for justice.
On  April 3, an altercation between the accused and the victims family resulted in the girl’s father being beaten up. Both the victim and the accused registered complaints against each other, and allegedly due to the political power of the accused MLA, only the complaint against the victim’s family was taken up by the police, leading to the father’s arrest. This led the girl to attempt suicide outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Lucknow, on April 8, accusing him of protecting the MLA and delaying the justice process. Immediately after this, the victim’s father was arrested and beaten up at the police station who then died the next day. On April 10 post-mortem reports showed that he had sustained 14 injuries, which led to his death.

Aftermath

Public outrage and nationwide media coverage created much noise in favour of the victim because of which finally on April 11, 2018, the UP government ordered the police to hand over the Unnao rape case to CBI. Six policemen were suspended for that inaction and four men who were the associates of MLA Kuldeep Sengar were arrested and charged with the death of the victim’s father. The MLA Kuldeep Singh was named accused in the case following a high-level enquiry.

Also Read: Unnao Rape Case: Key Witness Dies & Buried Without Autopsy, Family Of Victim Allege Foul Play