lucknow

Updated: Aug 03, 2019 01:10 IST

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s Friday order to shift the Unnao rape survivor’s paternal uncle from the Rae Bareli jail where he is currently lodged to Delhi’s Tihar jail, family members said that they had been asking for this move for a long time.

“It was something we had been asking for long. The government could have done it earlier,” the survivor’s maternal uncle said.

The top court on Friday ordered that the survivor’s uncle, who is in jail in a two decades-old attempt to murder case, be shifted to Tihar jail, and sought a compliance report by the state on Monday. The Uttar Pradesh government counsel contended that the survivor’s uncle was safe, but the state had no objection to the move.

The survivor was critically injured in an accident on Sunday, which killed two of her aunts, and injured the lawyer representing her, when the party was on its way to meet her uncle. One of the aunts who died was the wife of the man in jail. He was given parole to cremate her on Wednesday.

Director general of prison administration Anand Kumar said the authorities at Rae Bareli district jail were apprised of the Supreme Court order, and added that the district magistrate and superintendent of police would hand over the custody of the survivor’s uncle to the Central Reserve Police Force team which was tasked to take him to Delhi.

Meanwhile, joint director (CBI Lucknow unit) Sampat Meena and main investigating officer Additional Superintendent of Police Ram Singh questioned the survivor’s uncle on Friday evening.

“On Sunday, the girl (survivor) along with her advocate and family members was going to meet her uncle and discuss legal formalities. He wanted to appeal to the court to shift him to New Delhi,” the maternal uncle said.

The family hopes that the apex court will now shift the case against the uncle to Delhi, as well.

“The charges against him are false. The entire case is crafted out of a conspiracy to keep him in jail,” the maternal uncle said.

“We lost four people in the battle for justice. Now the SC is looking after all cases and we are hopeful of justice. I pray to God to cure my sister so that she could see the dawn of justice,” the survivor’s sister said.

The 19-year-old survivor and her lawyer are recuperating at the trauma centre of Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University.

In line with Thursday’s Supreme Court order, CRPF personnel have taken over the security of the duo.

“The woman had fever in the morning. She remains on ventilator support but her lawyer is out of ventilator,” said Prof Sandip Tiwari of the trauma surgery department.

Meanwhile, the district magistrate also gave Rs 25 lakh compensation to her family on Friday, as directed by the top court.