Why have you not expelled Unnao rape accused MLA, Priyanka asks BJP

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday expressed anguish over BJP not expelling MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is accused in the Unnao rape case.

“What is the BJP waiting for? Why has this man not been expelled from their party even when his name is in the latest FIR in the Unnao Rape Case?” Priynaka Gandhi tweeted as she shared a picture of a smiling Sengar with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders.

"The road accident involving the Unnao rape victim is shocking. Where has the CBI probe in this case reached. Why is the accused MLA still in the BJP? Why is there laxity in the security of the victim and the witnesses," she said.

She asked if one can hope for any justice from the BJP government without an answer to these questions.

"Does it (BJP) have no moral duty towards its citizens anymore, or was that never on its agenda anyway," she tweeted.

The Congress leader said the woman is lying grievously wounded in a hospital after the accident, but the accused continues as a BJP legislator, and the state BJP government has the audacity to run a campaign claiming "Fear-free Uttar Pradesh".

"So a woman is allegedly raped by a BJP MLA. Her father is beaten up and dies in custody. A key witness dies mysteriously last year. Now her aunt who was also a witness is killed and her lawyer is critically injured in an accident caused by a truck with blackened number plates," she later tweeted.

Police had said that a car in which the Unnao rape victim, her family and lawyer were travelling was hit by an overspeeding truck in Rae Bareli on Sunday, killing two members, while leaving her and the advocate critically injured.

The Congress party also demanded on Monday that the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognizance of the Unnao rape case and order the entire investigation to be carried out under its supervision.

Party Spokesman Manish Tewari said: “This is something which is unprecedented, something which we have never seen happening in democratic India with this level of impunity.”

"Therefore, we would like to demand that the Supreme Court takes suo-moto cognizance of this particular incident especially, as well as the entire unfortunate rape incident and all the attended investigations and judicial proceedings and they should proceed under the supervision and the superintendence of the Supreme Court.

“Otherwise there will be no justice in this matter and this is not the only incident which has taken place,” Tewari said, adding that the “premeditated intent to kill” the victim of the Unnao rape case and her family was “extremely shocking” and it has “jerked the collective conscience of the citizenry of this country”.

He alleged that right from June 2017, when this incident took place, concerted attempts have been made by the UP government to shield its MLA.