The trial in the Unnao rape case did not move an inch for over a year in Uttar Pradesh , despite it necessitating a fast-track disposal on two counts: one, it is a POCSO case and two, the main accused is a legislator.ET studied records at the Lucknow district court and found that though the CBI filed a charge sheet against MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on July 11, 2018, citing 65 witnesses and call details of 24 people, and the court took cognisance of it six days later, the trial has not begun yet. That was because of indecision over which court would try the case: the POCSO court, the CBI court or another special court.The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act stipulates cases to be ideally completed within one year of cognisance being taken. The Supreme Court in an order in 2017 said all cases against MLAs and MPs be decided within one year and ordered special courts to be set up to try them. Both these stipulations have not been met in the Unnao case.The judge in the special CBI court where the charge sheet was filed, Vatsal Shrivastava, got transferred out on May 30 this year and the new judge in his place was still to hear the matter. Three applications filed by the accused did get a hearing from the court under Shrivastava, as per records studied by ET. One was the bail application filed by Sengar which was rejected on December 11. Court records show Sengar had then pleaded that the entire rape case was false and that he was not present at his house on June 4, 2017 when the alleged rape happened. He also claimed that the alleged victim was 19 years old, and not 15, on the alleged incident date, and hence a case under the POCSO Act was not made out. The CBI, however, said its charge sheet carried proof to establish Sengar was present at the crime spot.According to Sengar, the complainant had furnished a transfer certificate from a Rae Bareli school saying she was born on August 18, 2002 (hence aged 15 at the time of alleged rape) but claimed she was admitted to Class 1 on August 18, 2003 and was born in 1998. A local court later ordered an FIR in the matter, which her family is battling.The CBI said Sengar being set on bail could lead him to influence witnesses. Another accused, Shashi Singh, who allegedly lured the girl to Sengar’s house, filed a bail plea saying the CBI had delayed filing the charge sheet, but it was rejected too.Despite the girl’s family writing nearly three dozen letters to the police and administrative authorities over the last few months complaining of threats from Sengar’s alleged henchmen, no action was taken to protect them. A blame game seems to be now on between the CBI and the UP Police. The central agency seems upset with the UP Police for not addressing the complaints and protecting its “witnesses”. “Why was a separate case of criminal intimidation not filed by the UP Police despite so many complaints,” said a senior CBI official, while speaking to ET. UP Police officials, however, told ET that the CBI never formally brought this to their notice.The UP Police have been caught on a backfoot and has suspended three policemen who were assigned to guard the girl but had not accompanied her on last Sunday, when a truck hit a car she was travelling in. The IG in charge of Unnao has also marked a high-level inquiry into why the multiple complaints were not acted upon. “An inquiry was done in each of the complaints and reports were submitted saying the complaints were not verifiable or substantiated. The inquiry will now look into the standard and quality of these inquiries,” a senior UP Police official told ET. The family told ET even video recordings were submitted by them as proof of the threats to them.The role of the Unnao police is suspect, given it was earlier allegedly acted on Sengar’s influence. The CBI has charge sheeted local policemen for framing the girl’s father and jailing him in an allegedly false arms case — he later died in custody. At the local level, the role of the police was allegedly to be biased as they viewed the girl’s family as one of “historysheeters” since her uncle, once a right-hand man of Sengar, was a wanted criminal. “But that does not mean you will not listen to us,” a family member said.The family has now pitched its hopes on the fast-track trial in Delhi, as ordered by Supreme Court on Thursday, to get justice.