Lucknow: Congress holds prayer meet for well-being of Unnao rape victim

Lucknow: The Congress party is holding a prayer meeting here wishing for the well-being of the Unnao rape victim who is in a critical condition after she met with an accident on Sunday.

The prayer meeting, which is being held in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in GPO, will continue all through the night.

The party in a statement said the Congress workers are praying because the victim's life is in danger and that it stands with her in her fight for justice.

It also stated that the party will stage a protest in front of state BJP office on July 30 demanding the expulsion of MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, prime accused in the rape case.

Earlier in the day, police registered a case against Sengar, his brother Manoj Singh Sengar and eight others in connection with the road accident in which the Unnao rape victim and her lawyer were seriously injured, while two of her aunts were killed.

The case has been registered under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accident took place on Sunday when the victim was on her way to Raebareli from Unnao. The vehicle in which the girl, her two aunts and lawyer were travelling, collided with a truck.

While the victim's aunts succumbed to injuries, she and her lawyer were grievously injured.

BJP MLA Sengar is the prime accused in the rape case of the minor girl. He is a BJP MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao and was arrested by the CBI in April last year. The teen was allegedly raped by the MLA at his residence in Unnao on June 4, 2017, where she had gone seeking a job.

The Unnao rape victim and her lawyer are currently being treated at the Trauma Centre of Lucknow's King George's Medical University and Hospital.