Last week, the Delhi High Court had ordered setting up of a special court at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in order to continue trial in the Unnao rape case resulting which, the rape survivor on Thursday recorded her statement on a stretcher at the temporary court set up at the hospital. The teen had accused former Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of raping her in 2017.
The girl deposed before District Judge Dharmesh Sharma during an ”in-camera” proceeding held at the seminar hall of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, her lawyer said. The rape survivor has been under treatment at the hospital since July, after a truck rammed her car in Uttar Pradesh. Her family filed a complaint against Sengar, blaming him for the accident.
The proceedings, started on Wednesday and will continue till Friday at AIIMS, the counsel for the accused said. ”In-camera” proceedings are not open to the public and the press. The temporary court was set up at the hospital with the Delhi High Court’s permission after the doctors attending the woman said it was “not advisable” to bring her to the court premises.
The case dates back to 2017 when the teen was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar when she was a minor. Sengar and co-accused were also brought to the hospital on Thursday amidst high security from Tihar jail.
A nurse, present with the rape survivor during the recording of her statement at the special court, was in regular touch with her doctors, said Dharmendra Mishra, counsel for the woman and her family.
He said the elder sister of the rape survivor was also allowed to accompany her throughout the proceedings.
The apex court had also granted two more weeks to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its investigation into the accident case of the Unnao rape survivor and her lawyer.
On July 28, the car in which the rape survivor, her lawyer and two of her aunts were travelling was hit by a speeding truck in Rae Bareli. The accident killed both her aunts and left the other two seriously injured. Brought to AIIMS last month, both the rape survivor and her lawyer are on advanced life support systems and are being treated by a multidisciplinary team from the critical care, orthopaedics, trauma surgery and pulmonary medicine departments.
(With inputs from PTI)