Sengar

Sengar

(With inputs from agencies)

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday sentenced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to life term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on Sengar. It also directed that the rape survivor be paid an additional Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the mother of the victim.The Court also orders CBI to assess threat perception and offer the necessary protection to the victim and her family. The CBI was directed to provide safe house to victim and her family.Soon after the verdict, Sengar was found crying along with his daughter and sister."This court does not find any mitigating circumstance. Sengar was public servant and betrayed people's faith," the judge said while declining the plea for lenient approach in sentencing him. The court also said the conduct of Sengar was to intimidate the rape survivor.On Monday, the court had convicted the expelled BJP MLA and adjourned till December 20 the hearing on order for quantum of sentence to Sengar.District Judge Dharmesh Sharma conducted the trial in the case on a day-to-day basis from August 5 after it was transferred here from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court.Sengar, a four-time BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Bangarmau, was convicted 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 case in which the court convicted Sengar is one of the five related cases that were transferred from Uttar Pradesh to the national capital.The four other related cases are — framing of the rape survivor's father in an illegal firearms case and his death in judicial custody, 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 woman's father was allegedly framed in an illegal firearms case and arrested on April 3, 2018. He died in judicial custody on April 9, 2018.The court is conducting a joint-trial in both cases. It has framed murder and other charges against, his brother Atul Sengar, three ex-UP policemen and six others in the case.The statement of all the accused has been recorded in the cases and the defence will submit a list of their witnesses on Tuesday.The rape survivor was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by three others — Naresh Tiwari, Brijesh Yadav and Shubham Singh— on June 11, 2017 in Unnao.The court has framed charges against the three and the trial is yet to commence in the case.The fourth related case rose out of an alleged accident of the rape survivor on July 28 this year.She was severely injured and two of her aunts died when the car in which they were travelling was hit by a truck. Her family alleged foul play byand nine others in the car crash.The CBI has named 10 people as accused, including the MLA, in the case but the probe agency had said in its charge sheet that it was a case of accident and not murder as alleged in the FIR.The trial court is yet to take cognisance of the charge sheet in the accident case.A day after Sengar's conviction on Monday, the CBI had sought life imprisonment for expelled BJP MLA, saying it was a fight for justice of an individual against the system.The probe agency urged the court to give maximum punishment of life term, prescribed under the law, to the politician.