Minor victim moves SC, seeks FIR against Azam Khan

The 14-year-old girl who was gang-raped near a highway in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr has moved the Supreme Court seeking police complaint against minister Azam Khan for his outrageous comments.

The brutal incident had happened on the night of July 29 when a group of highway robbers stopped the car of a Noida-based family and sexually assaulted the minor and her 35-year-old mother for almost three hours after dragging them out of the vehicle which had four other occupants. Earlier this month, as a group of BJP leaders headed to Ghaziabad to meet the family, Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan called it an “opposition’s conspiracy”.

“We need to investigate whether this is a conspiracy by opponents who want to defame the government,” he had said. The Allahabad High Court recently ordered CBI probe into the incident besides deciding to monitor the investigation.

In the plea filed in the Supreme Court through lawyer Kislay Pandey, the woman’s husband has sought an order for “transfer the trial of the present case to Delhi from Bulandshahr in the interest of justice”. Unhappy over the probe by Uttar Pradesh police, the petitioner has said the investigation be conducted by “some other competent agency”.

Advocate Pandey said that the petition was filed on Friday, by the minor girl’s father, who has taken exception to Azam Khan describing the gang-rape as a political conspiracy at a press conference.

The petitioner said Khan’s statement was “outrageous to the victims’ modesty”. The plea has also sought “appropriate damages” for the victims besides a direction that the state and others, including the DGP, be stopped from infringing fundamental right to life of the victims.

“Direct the respondents (State Home Secretary, Khan, DGP and SSP of Bulandshahr) to pay the appropriate damages to the petitioner as per the law,” the plea said. It also alleged that police did come for help despite victims making several distress calls on helpline number.