Shock as minister mocks Unnao rape survivor after she was dragged from protest

Uttar Pradesh Minister OP Rajbhar on Wednesday mocked the Unnao rape survivor and her family after they were forcibly removed from a protest at Delhi’s Red Gate against the suspended sentence of the main accused and former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

Rajbhar downplayed the incident and laughed it off, saying, “But her home is in Unnao…”

When questioned by reporters about his reaction to the rape survivor being driven out of Red Gate, Rajbhar made the remark before breaking into laughter.

Meanwhile, the survivor on Tuesday evening after she and her mother were forcibly dragged out of the lawns of India Gate while protesting a Delhi High Court order granting bail to Sengar in the 2017 rape case reportedly said: “I wanted to kill myself then and there, but I stopped after thinking about my family.”

According to local media reports, earlier on Wednesday the rape survivor described the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend the jail term of expelled BJP leader as death for her family and said that she would approach the Supreme Court.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the sentence of Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment in the case, and ordered his release on bail pending the disposal of his appeal against his conviction by a trial court in December 2019.

In its order, the high court directed that Sengar shall not come within a 5-kilometre radius of the victim’s residence and shall not threaten the survivor or her mother. It also said that violation of the conditions would automatically lead to cancellation of bail.

Sengar, however, will remain in jail since he is also serving 10 years’ imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim’s father and has not been granted bail in that case.

Reacting to the verdict, the survivor, who was a minor when she was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017, said that security for her family members, lawyers and witnesses had already been withdrawn and the court’s decision had deepened her fears.

“If the convict gets bail in a case like this, how will the country’s daughters remain safe? For us, this decision is no less than ‘kaal’ (death),” she told news agency PTI, adding emotionally that, “Those with money win, those without money lose.”