Bulandshahr gang-rape: Azam Khan tenders unconditional apology in Supreme Court

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party Azam Khan on Thursday tendered unconditional apology in Supreme Court for his remarks pertaining to Bulandshahr gang-rape case.

The apex court accepted Khan's affidavit, saying he has expressed "sincere and heartful remorse".

During the earlier hearing, the top court had rejected SP leader's "unconditional apology" for his alleged remarks on the Bulandshahr gang-rape case.

An apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had asked Khan to file a fresh affidavit after noting that the earlier one filed by him has errors in it.

Earlier on November 18, the Samajwadi Party leader had told the apex court that he was ready to unconditionally apologise for describing as "political conspiracy" the gang-rape of two women near Bulandshahr in July.

Terming dignity of women as "uncompromisable", the bench had asked the state government to ensure that the minor survivor of the gang rape gets admission in a nearby central school of the choice of her father.

The cost of admission and education shall be borne by the state government and the Centre will render all assistance for it, the court said, noting the school will ensure the dignity of the rape survivor.

Khan had stoked a controversy in August 2016 when he said that the Bulandshahar highway rape case could be a ‘political conspiracy to malign the image of the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government in Uttar Pradesh’.

The man, whose wife and daughter were gang-raped on a highway in Bulandshahr, had on August 13 moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case to Delhi, besides lodging of an FIR against Khan as well as several policemen.

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 woman and her daughter after dragging them out of the vehicle which had four other occupants.