Unnao rape case: SC to hear plea for CBI probe; woman alleges confinement

Amid an outcry over the Unnao rape case, the Supreme Court today decided to hear next week a plea for a CBI probe, even as the wife of the accused BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh demanded narco tests of her husband and the 18-year-old woman, who alleged confinement by local authorities.

The Congress used the case to hit out at the BJP government with party president Rahul Gandhi wondering if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would observe a fast on the alleged rape and death of the complainant's father in custody, which he said "has shamed humanity".

Separately, the Allahabad High Court sought to know the Yogi Adityanath-led state government's stand on the incident, while posting the matter for hearing tomorrow.

The complainant, who had tried to immolate herself outside the chief minister's house just a day before her 50-year-old father died on Monday, alleged that she has been confined to a hotel room by the district administration, leaving her "without a phone or water and guards at every corner".

She also accused the MLA's brother and their henchmen of killing her elder uncle earlier. "I want justice, why are they putting pressure on me for an apology? Do they want my (another) uncle to be killed too?"
Taking a swipe at the prime minister's proposed hunger strike over the non-functioning of Parliament, the party president separately tweeted, "The barbarism inflicted on a father seeking justice for his daughter in Uttar Pradesh has shamed humanity. Hope the prime minister will soon observe a fast over atrocities against women, failed law and order and increasing anarchy under the BJP's watch."
Reacting to the incident, Amnesty International India's Asmita Basu said, "The reported failure of the Uttar Pradesh police to register an FIR against the accused, the harassment faced by the survivor and her family, and the death of her father in custody paint a chilling picture."