The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to complete investigation into Unnao rape survivor’s accident case within seven days.
On being queried about the time required to complete the probe in the case, the Solicitor General had asked the apex court for a month’s time.
“A month? No, investigate in 7 days,” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi firmly said.
However, as an exception, the CBI can take another week, but in no circumstance can the probe be extended beyond a fortnight, the court said.
The inquiry will be conducted under the supervision of sitting SC judge nominated by CJI, to ascertain whether there was any lapse/negligence by registry officials in delaying the processing letter of Unnao rape victim’s mother to the Chief Justice.
The Supreme Court also transferred all the five cases linked to the Unnao rape and accident case from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.
“Taking into account the ground stated in transfer petition, and letter to the CJI, we order the transfer of all the cases from the CBI court in UP to Delhi,” the court observed.
The five cases related to Unnao rape include Rape and kidnapping, Gangrape, Murder in custody of survivor father, Arms Act slapped on survivor father, and the car crash involving rape survivor.
The designated judge in Delhi will commence the trial on a day-to-day basis and complete the trial within 45 days.
The court further directed the Uttar Pradesh state government to pay compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the rape survivor and her family.
On being questioned about the condition of the rape survivor whose car was involved in the accident in Rae Bareilly, Solicitor General Tushar had earlier said, “She is on ventilator. We don’t want to move the victim, she can be airlifted. We can ask AIIMS”.
The court observed that doctors are the best judges who can decide whether the teen and her lawyer can be airlifted to Delhi.
The Supreme Court has also directed CRPF protection to the rape victim, her mother, four siblings and her uncle. The family members of the rape survivor’s lawyer Mahesh Singh will also get security.
Meanwhile, three police personnel including two women cops, appointed for the security of Unnao rape survivor, have been suspended.
On Wednesday, the apex court had sought a report from the Secretary-General for the delay in reaching the letter to the CJI.
The CJI also directed the Secretary-General to go through the letter written in Hindi for preparing a note of it for his perusal and submit a report within a week.
Family members of the Unnao rape victim, in a letter to the CJI on July 12 had stated that the kin of accused threatened them to settle case otherwise they would be implicated in false cases.
On Sunday, the woman from Unnao, who had accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of raping her in 2017, was severely injured while two of her aunts were killed after their car collided with a truck near Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh.
A “conspiracy to eliminate the family” has been alleged.
Meanwhile, the CBI has registered a case against suspended BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and nine others accused in the case.
The Unnao rape case hit the headlines in 2017 after the then 16-year-old girl alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA Sengar.
The high-profile case has been used by the Opposition to target the BJP as the accused MLA continued to stay in power even after being accused in the rape case.