Unnao Rape Convict Kuldip Sengar Loses UP Assembly Membership

After a trial court in Delhi decreed life imprisonment for Unnao rape convict and former BJP MLA Kuldip Singh Sengar, now he has been expelled from the UP assembly. The former MLA who was elected from Bangarmau constituency in UP has been disqualified according to the rules, stated a notification issued in this matter, ET reported. The notification has also declared his Bangarmau seat vacant.

Also read: Unnao Rape Case Convict Kuldip Singh Sengar Gets Life Imprisonment

Earlier on December 20 last year, a Delhi court awarded life term imprisonment to Sengar in the 2017 rape case of a then minor girl. District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, who had reserved the verdict on quantum of sentence in the forenoon, also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh in the case which was to be paid within a month.

“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 lenient approach in sentencing him, News 18 reported.

In August 2019, UP BJP threw Sengar out of the party, a year after the case had been filed against him, accusing him of raping a minor girl.

The four-time MLA from BJP, Sengar was convicted in the rape case by the Delhi court on December 16 under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 5 (c) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which pertains to penetrative sexual assault committed against a child by a public servant. The court had also termed the case “an extraordinary one” where the court has to “consider her continued suffering.” While convicting Sengar, the court also noted, “the CBI was able to prove the guilt of Kuldeep Singh Sengar beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The trial, in this case, was heard on a day-to-day basis since August 5 after the Supreme Court directed to transfer the case from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

It is pertinent to note that Sengar has been named in five cases connected to this rape case which were transferred from Unnao to New Delhi and he has been convicted in only one case so far. The four other cases comprise of framing of the rape survivor’s father in an illegal firearms case and his death in judicial custody, the conspiracy of Sengar with others in an accident case of the rape survivor and a separate case of her alleged gang rape by three others.

The former MLA who was elected from Bangarmau constituency in UP has been disqualified according to the rules, stated a notification issued in this matter

Also read: Rape Accused Former Minister Chinmayanand Out On Bail

In July 2019, the survivor along with her two aunts and the lawyer was on her way to Bareilly to see her uncle when her car met with an accident in which both her aunts lost her life. The survivor and her lawyer got critically injured. In an FIR filed by her uncle, he blamed the accident on Sengar as he alleged that he attempted to kill the survivor and her family. However, in the charge sheet filed by the CBI, it has stated that it was a case of an accident and not murder, yet it has named 10 people as accused including Sengar.

In June 2017, Sengar and his accomplices Naresh Tiwari, Brijesh Yadav and Shubham Singh kidnapped and gang-raped the survivor in Unnao. While Sengar has been convicted, the court is yet to commence trial against the others.

Picture credit- India Today