Three police security guards deployed for the protection of the Unnao rape survivor were suspended from service on August 1 for negligence.
BJP Uttar Pradesh president Swatantra Dev Singh said Bangarmau MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accused of rape and allegedly behind plotting a collision with the survivor’s car, was expelled by the central leadership of the party after he was suspended by the State unit.
“This is in the domain of the central leadership. When I gave my statement in Kanpur, this was not in my knowledge. As of today, Kuldeep Sengar is expelled from the party,” Mr. Singh said, clarifying his earlier comment.
The survivor and her lawyer continued to be critical but stable, said King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, where they were receiving treatment. Both were still on ventilator support with multiple injuries.
While the lawyer was shifted out of the ventilator for a while on a trial basis, the survivor has been constantly on ventilator, Sandeep Tiwari, spokesperson, KGMU, said in a statement.
U.P. Director-General of Police O.P. Singh said the three police personnel deployed for the protection of the survivor were were not travelling with the family on the day their car collided with a truck while they were on their way to a Rae Bareli jail.
The women constables, Ruby Patel and Sunita Debi and gunner Sudesh Kumar were penalised after an investigation by the district police chief of Unnao charged them with negligence. The police had earlier said that the three did not travel with the family on their request, as there was apparently not enough space in the car. The survivor was travelling with her lawyer and two aunts.
According to U.P. Police, the family was allotted nine security personnel, including three personal guards for the survivor.
The uncle of the survivor alleged in a complaint that the police detail accorded to his family kept Mr. Sengar’s men informed about their plans to shift their legal documents to Rae Bareli and did not travel with the survivor on the day of the accident.
The rape survivor’s aunt, who was killed in the Rae Bareli accident, was cremated in her village, 70 km from Lucknow on August 1.
