A Delhi court has sentenced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and other convicts to 10 years imprisonment in culpable homicide not amounting to murder of Unnao rape victim’s father on Friday. Sengar and his brother Atul Senger have also been asked to pay Rs 10 lakhs each as compensation to the victim’s family.
The court had convicted former Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar of the murder of Unnao rape victim’s father earlier this month. Sengar has already been awarded life imprisonment for the rape of the young woman from Unnao, who was a minor at that time.
The case reflected misuse of the political power by Sengar when he allegedly kidnapped and raped the minor girl in 2017. After the victim tried to report the case, Sengar’s brutality was not restricted to the victim but it also affected her family members as her father was allegedly framed in an illegal arms case and arrested on April 3, 2018. He died in judicial custody a few days later on April 9.
The rape case came under the scanner when the girl, after running from pillar to post for justice, tried to commit suicide outside Yogi Adityanath’s home.
Later on July 28, 2019, a car in which the victim along with her aunts and the lawyer who was handling her case was hit by a truck killing her two aunts and leaving the lawyer and the victim injured. The victim had also written to then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi who then ordered the transfer of all the cases from UP to Delhi and asked CBI to intervene.
Her family alleged foul play in the incident. The local court had framed murder charges against Sengar, his brother Atul Sengar and nine others in the case. The court on August 9 had framed charges against Sengar and co-accused Shashi Singh under Sections 120b (criminal conspiracy), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to compel for marriage), 376 (rape) of the IPC and other relevant sections of POCSO Act.