The judicial intervention in the Unnao case has once again exposed the political-criminal nexus in Uttar Pradesh. Under pressure from the Allahabad High Court, the Prime Minister’s Office cleared the Yogi Adityanath government’s recommendation for the case to be handed to the Central Bureau of Investigation in record time on Thursday night. It also directed the investigating agency to pick up the accused Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Kuldeep Singh Sengar before the High Court passes its order on the public interest litigation in Unnao rape and murder case. Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s midnight candle march also forced the Modi government to take a proactive step.
The Yogi Adityanath government’s zero-tolerance policy on crimes against women was blown to smithereens when the accused BJP MLA’s arrest was withheld even after the registration of a first information report under Sections 363, 366, 376, 506 of the Indian Penal Code and 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Never in history has the PMO and the DoPT acted so pro-actively on a CBI recommendation by any state government. Within hours, all necessary formalities were completed late Thursday night to give a go-ahead to the CBI. The investigating agency too acted swiftly and lodged three FIRs and picked up the accused MLA at 4.12 am on Friday morning.
