Airlift Unnao rape survivor to Delhi, SC directs Uttar Pradesh government

The victim has developed pneumonia, her mother tells the court.

August 05, 2019 01:17 pm | Updated August 06, 2019 02:22 am IST - New Delhi

NEW DELHI, 09/04/2013: Supreme Court of India in New Delhi on April 10,  2013. 
Photo: S. Subramanium

NEW DELHI, 09/04/2013: Supreme Court of India in New Delhi on April 10, 2013. Photo: S. Subramanium

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to airlift the Unnao rape survivor by air ambulance for advanced treatment in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

A Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose passed the order after the mother of the girl, through her lawyer, informed the court that the victim, under critical care in a Lucknow hospital, had developed pneumonia.

The court said AIIMS should take over the responsibility of the girl "from the tarmac of the airport in Delhi".

It also directed the U.P. government to provide the same facilities to the lawyer, who was travelling with the family when their car was rammed by a speeding truck near Rae Bareli , if the family requests so. He had also been under critical care in the same hospital in Lucknow.

The case has been listed for further hearing on August 9.

'Take doctors' opinion'

"At this stage, counsel appearing for the family members of the victim has put in appearance and states that since the victim has developed pneumonia, her mother now wants that she be shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi," said the Bench.

It said that before transferring the girl to Delhi, the opinion of the doctors at the Lucknow hospital "shall be obtained" to ascertain whether she was she was in "a fit condition to be transferred".

"In case the doctors opine that she is in fit condition to transfer, then she shall be transferred to AIIMS in New Delhi. In view of the request of the mother, we direct the State of Uttar Pradesh to airlift the victim by air ambulance to Delhi and transfer her to AIIMS today itself, if so permitted," it said in the order.

The woman was allegedly raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.

The Bench was informed that Mahesh Singh, uncle of the rape survivor, had been transferred to the Tihar jail from a jail in U.P. in pursuance of its earlier direction to ensure his safety.

His wife was in the ill-fated car and had died in the accident. He participated in her cremation on Wednesday after the Allahabad High Court had granted him parole for a day.

He was convicted in a 19-year-old case and sentenced to 10-year jail term on a case filed by Mr. Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh.

(With PTI inputs)

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