Unnao rape: Delhi Court awards Kuldeep Sengar life-sentence; 25 lakh fine

New Delhi: The ex-BJP lawmaker and prime convict of Unnao rape case, Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been awarded life-time jail term and a fine of 25 lakh rupees by Delhi court on December 20.

Earlier, the convict was pronounced guilty by Delhi's Tis Hajari court on December 16. The ex-BJP MP is accused of kidnapping and raping a woman in Unnao in 2017. Singh was alleged to have taken the survivor to Sengar on the pretext of helping her get a job.

The investigation agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had urged the court to award maximum punishment of life term, prescribed under the law, to the politician, saying it was also a case of mental harassment and a fight for justice of an individual against the system.

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The complainant and the counsel for the investigating agency said the court must consider the “cry of the girls in heinous crimes”.

“The sentence must be commensurate with the gravity, seriousness and impact of the crime and its impact on the society at large should be considered. If we see the factual matrix of the case, right from the beginning it is a quest for justice of an individual against the system,” said the public prosecutor, Ashok Bhartendu.

The counsel for the rape survivor and her family, Dharmendra Mishra told the court, “The woman lost her father, her two aunts. She has been suffering since 2017. She has been de-rooted from her roots.”

However, the counsel appearing for Sengar has urged the court to award minimum punishment of 10-year jail term to the convict alleging the politician had no prior criminal record.

“He had a political career without any blemish. Since 2002-till date he has been elected repeatedly as a member of the legislative assembly by the public,” Sengar's advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir, said adding that he did not have a “depraved mentality”.

Appealing in favour of the convict, Advocates Dhruv Gupta and Tushan Rawal, asked the court to consider the old-age of the politician who was 54-year old and had two minor daughters.

Though the charges against the politician were serious and given to the nature of the crime, Kuldeep Singh Sengar was awarded maximum punishment of life term, prescribed under the law.

It is to be mentioned that the ex-BJP MP, Sengar was held guilty for allegedly kidnapping and raping a minor in 2017. After the case came into limelight the four-time BJP MLA from UP’s Bangermau,Sengar was expelled from the party in August, 2019.

The court on August 9 had 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 relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On July 28 this year, the woman who had accused Sengar was severely injured after the car in which she was travelling was hit by a truck. In this alleged conspiracy to suppress the case against the influential political leader, two of her aunts were killed in the accident. Her family had alleged foul play.

The father of the Unnao rape survivor was also 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.

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Later, the local court here had framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case.

The apex court, taking cognizance of the rape survivor’s letter written to then 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 a daily basis and completing it within 45 days.

However, the trial in the other four cases — framing of the rape survivor’s father in illegal firearms case and his death in judicial custody, conspiracy of Sengar with others in the accident case and a separate case of gang rape of the rape survivor by three others — are still ongoing in the court.

A special court was also held at AIIMS hospital, Delhi to record the statement of the rape survivor, who was admitted there after she was air-lifted from a KGMU hospital in Lucknow following the car crash.

The rape survivor and her family has been provided CRPF security as per the Supreme court’s orders. And now, they have been shifted to a rented house in the national capital with the assistance of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

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