india

Updated: Aug 09, 2019 23:57 IST

A special court on Friday framed charges against expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case, based on the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in July 2018.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said that prima facie, Sengar has been charged for allegedly conspiring with co-accused Shashi Singh to bring the girl to his residence on the pretext of getting her a job and sexually assaulting her and threatening to harm her and her family members if she disclosed the incident to anyone.

Sengar, an MLA from Unnao, has been charged under several sections, including Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or compelling a woman for marriage), 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The survivor was a minor at the time of the incident.

Sengar’s accomplice, Shashi Singh, who is accused of luring the survivor under the pretext of a job opportunity to Sengar’s house in Rae Bareli district, has also been booked under all of the above sections other than Section 506 of the IPC.

Sengar is accused of raping the minor in June 2017. Both the MLA and Singh are currently lodged in New Delhi’s Tihar jail.

Sengar and Singh denied the allegations saying that they have been falsely implicated in the matter, and asked for a trial.

Sengar said that he is an elected representative who has been falsely implicated. “I have full faith in the judiciary, that justice will prevail,” he told the court.

Singh asked the court if CBI has found any substantial evidence against her.

“I too have a daughter, who has not been able to complete her B.Ed. I have children. I ask the court for the proof that they have found against me,” she said.

Last week, the Supreme Court court directed the Tis Hazari court of district and sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma to hear all related cases pertaining to the Unnao rape within 45 working days.

The matter is of some urgency as the survivor is currently battling for her life in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), after a horrific accident in Rae Bareli left her and her lawyer grievously injured, and killed two of her aunts.

Four cases, which also include a case of gang-rape against the survivor, as well as a case of custodial death of the survivor’s father in April 2018, will be heard by the Delhi court.

The BJP expelled the four-time legislator from Bangarmau in Unnao district after the Supreme Court took a strong view of the rape and allegations against the legislator.

Sengar and nine others were also booked recently for murder by the CBI in the accident case.The rape survivor’s family has alleged foul play.

The rape survivor’s father was arrested and falsely implicated in a case of illegal firearms possession, the central probe agency said in another charge sheet filed in the case. He died in judicial custody on April 9, 2018.

The Delhi court also sought a report from the CBI on the medical condition of the survivor and lawyer in a sealed cover by August 13. District Judge Sharma directed the governing body of Vishram Sadan at AIIMS to provide at least two rooms and three meals a day to family members of the survivor, and said that the expenses of the facilities shall be incurred or reimbursed by the CBI.

Meanwhile, the CBI court in Lucknow allowed the agency on Friday to conduct narco, brain-mapping and fingerprinting tests of the driver and cleaner of the truck involved in the road accident .

The court of Special Judicial Magistrate Subrat Pathak also extended the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of the two accused till 4 pm on August 14.

The two accused -- driver Ashish Kumar Pal and cleaner Mohan Srivas -- gave their consent to the tests.