The survivor of the Unnao rape case met Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday evening, hours after her mother was manhandled by Central paramilitary personnel in Delhi during a protest against the release of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
The meeting took place at the 10 Janpath residence of Sonia Gandhi, a day after Rahul Gandhi returned from an official visit to Germany. The survivor also expressed a desire to meet Droupadi Murmu, Narendra Modi, and Amit Shah to seek intervention and assurances of safety.
Rahul Gandhi, who met the survivor, strongly condemned the manner in which she was treated by security personnel. In a post on X, he wrote, “Is such treatment of a gang rape survivor appropriate? Is it her ‘fault’ that she has the courage to raise her voice for justice?” He said the grant of bail to Sengar was deeply troubling, particularly given the survivor’s continued vulnerability. “The fact that her perpetrator (former BJP MLA Sengar) has been granted bail is extremely disappointing and shameful, especially when the survivor is being repeatedly harassed and is living under the shadow of fear,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi further criticised what he described as a broader collapse of moral and institutional accountability. “Bail for rapists and treating survivors like criminals, what kind of justice is this?” he asked. “We are not just becoming a dead economy; with such inhuman incidents, we are also turning into a dead society.” He added that the survivor deserved “respect, safety and justice, not helplessness, fear and injustice”.
Earlier in the day, the survivor and her mother were stopped by security personnel near India Gate while attempting to address the media. According to the family, the forces prevented them from speaking to journalists and allegedly forced the elderly mother to jump off a moving bus.
The two had been protesting against the Delhi High Court decision to suspend Sengar’s life sentence, effectively granting him bail while his appeal against conviction and sentence is heard. Sengar, who was convicted for raping the survivor in 2017 when she was a minor, will remain out of jail until the court reaches a final decision on his appeal.
Reacting to the High Court’s order, the survivor described the relief granted to Sengar as devastating. “This decision is kaal (death) for my family,” she said, adding that she would challenge the order in the Supreme Court of India.
The Unnao rape case, which dates back to June 2017, drew nationwide outrage after the survivor accused the then BJP legislator of rape and subsequently faced alleged intimidation, custodial deaths of family members and repeated threats. Sengar was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
