Unnao rape case: Ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar sentenced to life imprisonment

The court had on Monday convicted the expelled BJP MLA for the rape of the woman in 2017, when she was a minor.
Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar (Photo | PTI)
Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar (Photo | PTI)

Delhi's Tis Hazari court on Friday sentenced Unnao rape convict and ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to life imprisonment and asked him to pay Rs 25 lakh as an exemplary fine.

"This court does not find any mitigating circumstance. Sengar was a public servant and betrayed people's faith," the judge said while declining the plea for a lenient approach in sentencing him.

The court also said the conduct of Sengar was to intimidate the rape survivor.

It also directed that the rape survivor be paid an additional Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the mother of the victim.

Besides, the court directed the CBI to continue assessing threat perception to the life and security of the survivor and her family members every three months.

It said they will continue to reside in rented accommodation made available by Delhi Commission for Women for one more year and directed the UP government to pay Rs 15,000 per month for the rent.

The court had on Monday convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child after holding the victim to be a minor in 2017.

The court had said the victim's testimony was "truthful and unblemished" against a "powerful person".

The recent amendments made in August this year in the POCSO Act, which carries a provision of death penalty, did not come into effect as the incident took place in 2017 before the law was amended.

The woman co-accused in the case Shashi Singh was acquitted of all charges saying that the CBI failed to prove that she was a co-conspirator with Sengar in the act of sexual assault committed upon the victim and "it appears that she herself was a victim of circumstances".

Convicting Sengar, under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court said the CBI proved that the victim was a minor and he was rightly prosecuted under the special law.

The court had noted that it was proved by the prosecution that the movement of Sengar on the fateful day was not in sync with the movements of his three mobile SIM cards operating on his two mobile phones.

It had said that after the victim wrote letter to the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, several criminal cases were filed against her family and "imprints of Sengar" were visible in them.

The court had expressed surprise over the delay by the CBI in filing charge sheet in the gang rape case and said it had halted the progress against Sengar and Singh in the rape case.

In a separate case, the same woman was allegedly gang raped later by three other persons on June 11, 2017 in Unnao.

The trial is yet to commence in that case.

The day-to-day hearing was ordered by the Supreme Court in August when it transferred the case from Lucknow to the national capital after taking cognizance of the rape survivor’s letter written to then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.

The Delhi court was directed to hold a trial on a daily basis and complete it within 45 days. Sengar had allegedly kidnapped and raped the woman in 2017 when she was a minor.

The woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor. The court has framed charges against co-accused Shashi Singh in the case. Sengar was expelled from the BJP in August 2019.

The court had on August 9 framed charges against the MLA and Singh under Sections 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to compel for marriage), 376 (rape) of the IPC and other relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On July 28, the car of the woman who had accused Sengar was hit by a truck. While she was severely injured, her two aunts were killed in the accident.

Her family had alleged foul play.

Her father was allegedly framed in an illegal arms case and arrested on April 3, 2018.

He died while in judicial custody a few days later, on April 9.

The local court has framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case.

(With inputs from ENS, PTI)

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