A young woman in the Uttar Pradesh town accused in June last year that ruling BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Atul raped her when she met them for a job.
While the Kathua case sparked outrage because of the unspeakable brutality the little child was subjected to, it was largely the inaction of Yogi Adityanath's government in the Unnao rape that left people seething with anger.
A young woman in the Uttar Pradesh town accused in June last year that ruling BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Atul raped her when she met them for a job. She and her family ran from pillar to post for justice, but nothing happened.
On April 3 this year, her father was assaulted by Atul and his men. Police did not touch the attackers. Instead, the father is sent to jail. Five days later, the survivor and her family attempted self-immolation in from of Adityanath's residence in Lucknow. On April 9, her father died of injuries.
The next day, Atul was arrested. But Kuldeep remained free and was allowed to repeatedly call the survivor a liar. On April 12, the state government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that arrested Kuldeep the next day. But that was not before the Allahabad High Court into Adityanath's administration and forced it to catch the accused. So what was it that made Kuldeep mock the rule of law for 14 months?
Many say the four-time MLA, who has been with many parties in the past, has been doing it for years. He runs a parallel administration and owns a mining and tender empire in Unnao. He also has hotel and real estate businesses. Atul had shot at a police officer in 2004 when he tried to investigate a complaint against the MLA. Trial in the case has not begun. Many journalists allege they have been thrashed for writing against the Sengars.
"When Atulji went to talk to the complainant's father, he abused him. This infuriated Atulji and his men and they thrashed him in front of the entire village," says Rakesh, who claims to be an aide of the Sengars. The survivor is the MLA's neighbour in Unnao's Makhi village. "Media is digging into the history of Vidhayakji, but why is it ignoring cases against the other side?" he asks.
Shailendra, a family member of the MLA, questions why 'Vidhayakji' was not named in in the initial FIR. "The complainants have concocted a story," he says. Saraswati Singh, a neighbour of both parties, also defends the MLA. "If Sengarji had raped her, why were her two sisters going to the school owned by him?"
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