The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the Centre’s plea to withdraw the CRPF security cover of the Unnao rape survivor.”We make it clear that the CRPF cover for the victim shall continue till further orders of this court,” said a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice P B Varale.The court, however, removed the CRPF security cover assigned to her family members and other witnesses, noting that the conviction has already taken place.”We are of the opinion that protection granted by this court to the concerned persons at the relevant time may not be continued as the case has resulted in conviction,” it said.The Supreme Court clarified that the family members of the victims and other witnesses would be at liberty to approach local police if they still feel any threat.During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati pleaded to the apex court that conviction had taken place in the case and sought permission to withdraw the CRPF security cover. Earlier, as per the apex court’s order, the security cover was provided to the family members of the victim.The Supreme Court had in its order earlier sought detailed responses from the Unnao rape survivor and her family members after hearing the Centre’s plea seeking a direction to withdraw the CRPF security provided to them.On hearing from the Centre that there was hardly any threat perception to the victim and family members, the bench of the top court, led by Justice Trivedi, had asked it to serve a copy of the application to the victim and her family members.It may be recalled that on August 1, 2019, the top court, keeping in view the threat perception to the victim and her family members, directed that the rape survivor, her mother, other members of the family and their lawyer be provided CRPF security.A trial court in Delhi had in December 2019 convicted the forner BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader and MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to life imprisonment for kidnapping and raping the minor girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao area in 2017. It had sentenced Sengar to imprisonment for the remainder of his life and also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on him.
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