Unnao rape case: Delhi court convicts former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar

By Team MyNation  |  First Published Dec 16, 2019, 4:04 PM IST

Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar was convicted by a Delhi court for raping and killing a minor in Unnao in 2017

New Delhi: A Delhi court convicted expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Monday for raping a minor  in Unnao in 2017.

The court convicted Sengar for rape under Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act for offence of public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, however, acquitted co-accused Shashi Singh of all charges.

The court will hear arguments on quantum of sentence on Wednesday. The offences entail maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

The woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.

The court has also framed charges against co-accused Shashi Singh in the case. Sengar, a four-time BJP MLA from UP's Bangermau, was expelled from the party 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) and other sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The trial in the high profile case was held in-camera after the Supreme Court transferred the matter from Unnao to the national capital.

On July 28 this year, the car of the survivor was hit by a truck and she was severely injured. The woman's two aunts were killed in the accident and 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 here has framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case.

The apex court, taking cognisance of the rape survivor's letter written to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had on August 1 transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court in Uttar Pradesh to the court in Delhi with directions to hold trial on daily basis and completing it within 45-days.

With PTI Inputs

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