New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday made clear it will transfer the rape case involving BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar out of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh and summoned a “responsible” CBI officer before it by 12 noon to provide details of the probe conducted so far in the sensational matter.
The top court also refused a plea of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI that the matter be adjourned to 10:30am on Friday, as the officers probing the Unnao cases were out of Delhi.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected Mehta’s contention, saying the CBI director can gather the information of the cases on telephone and apprise the bench on Thursday.
The bench directed Mehta to ensure the presence of a responsible officer at 12 noon before it to give details on the probe conducted so far in the rape and the subsequent accident case.
“We are going to transfer all the cases. We will pass the order to this effect,” said the bench, comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.
It was taken up as the first item by the top court, which said as both the matters have been transferred to the CBI, it would pass orders in the case later in the day after knowing the details from a responsible CBI officer.
On Wednesday, the court had taken cognisance of the rape victim’s letter to the CJI and had sought a report from its secretary general why it had not been brought to his notice since July 17.
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Yogiji may not see it that way, but for the apex court to transfer a criminal case out of a state is a vote of no confidence in the state administration and its ability to uphold the rule of law. At a micro level, a finding that the administration of the state can no longer be carried out in accordance with constitutional provisions.