MLA Kuldeep Sengar held guilty of Unnao minor’s rape

NEW DELHI: A special court here convicted expelled BJP member and UP sitting MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Monday of raping a minor girl from Unnao in 2017.
It said the investigation of the case suffered from a patriarchal approach, one that tended to brush under the carpet the issue of sexual violence against children, and that it lacked sensitivity and a humane approach.
Sentencing is likely on Tuesday. Sengar faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment after being convicted under IPC Section 376 (rape) and Sections 5(c) (whoever being a public servant commits penetrative sexual assault on a child) and 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act.
As the court read out its verdict, co-accused Shashi Singh, who was listening intently, collapsed in the courtroom. Singh, accused of bringing the girl to Sengar as part of a conspiracy, was acquitted.
The defence faced flak from the court, which said it had attempted to venture into the gang rape case in a “strategic manner”. “The defence has tried to kill two birds/cases with one stone — not only the present case by attempting to demolish the character of the survivor but also by mounting an attack that the entire case (of gang rape) is a sham and bogus,” district and sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma noted.
The survivor’s testimony was found to be “unblemished, truthful” and of “sterling quality”, the court said, adding that from her testimony it could be concluded that she was “sexually assaulted by Sengar” at Makhi village.
The court noted that even if it was assumed that the survivor had been having an affair with one of the men accused in the gang rape case, that “by itself is no ground to assume that she had any motive to falsely implicate Sengar”.
The court criticised the CBI for not conducting the probe in a sensitive manner. “It appears somewhere that the investigation in the case has not been fair qua victim of the crime and her family members. The investigation has not been conducted by a woman officer...,” the court said.
Monday’s conviction was in one case out of four related ones transferred from UP to New Delhi. The other cases relate to framing of the survivor’s father in an illegal arms case and alleged murder in judicial custody, an alleged conspiracy between Sengar and others in the survivor’s road accident case, and of her alleged gang rape by three others. Trials in the gang rape and the road accident cases are yet to begin.
Examining all “spectrums” and “contours” of the case, the court made note of the evidence. In determining the age of the survivor, her school records were looked into and the court found she was born on August 17, 2001. Going by her date of birth, the court concluded that she had been a “minor” and a “child” on the day of incident — June 4, 2017.
The judgment said there was a delay of two months and 10 days in reporting of the incident. She was threatened by Sengar to keep quiet or face dire consequences, the court said, adding that it was also established on record that “no sooner was the incident reported (that) a vicious tirade against her family was orchestrated”.
“The case manifests the multitudes of restrictions and taboos within which many women in rural areas are brought up, grow and survive. It epitomises the fears ingrained in the mind of a young girl in the countryside or elsewhere against reporting issues of sexual assault by powerful adults,” said judge Sharma.
The judgment notes that the survivor’s statement was recorded by calling her to the CBI office “without bothering about the kind of harassment, anguish and re-victimisation” that a victim of a sexual assault case experiences.
The court’s observations also show that the CBI could not explain the delay in the filing of the chargesheet on October 3, 2019 when it took over the investigation of the survivor’s kidnapping, illegal confinement and gang rape on April 13, 2018. The court also criticised how selective leaks were made after the accused sought “vital information” about the statements of witnesses and call data records. Huge amounts of data received from the mobile phones of the accused and two mobile phones of one of the witnesses were not examined, it added.
The court also rejected Sengar’s alibi. The witnesses who deposed in support of his alibi were called “interested and tainted” witnesses who went out of the way to support him due to his “political might”.
The court had reserved its verdict earlier this month.