New Delhi:
Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the expelled BJP leader, was found guilty in Unnao rape case. District and session Judge Dharmesh Sharma announced the verdict. Delhi’s Tis Hazari court convicted Sengar under the POCSO Act. The arguments on the sentencing will be held on December 19. The CBI had concluded its arguments and recording of statements of defence witnesses was completed in in-camera proceedings on December 2. The case was heard on a day-to-day basis from August 5 after Supreme Court directed to transfer the case to Delhi from a court in Lucknow. Sengar was expelled from the BJP in August 2019. The court had on August 9 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.
Pronouncing the verdict, Judge Sharma said that it has been proven that at time of the rape in June 2017, the girl was a minor. The court also said that the girl, who comes from rural background, was getting lots of threats. The court also raised questions over the CBI probe. It is beyond comprehension why the CBI took so much time to file the chargesheet, the court said. Judge Sharma said that the CBI didn’t follow the rules. Instead of going to her place to record the statement, the CBI called her to its office, which troubled the rape survivor. However, co-accused Shashi Singh has been acquitted.
In July 28 this year, the car of the woman who had accused Sengar was hit by a truck and she was severely injured. The woman's two aunts were killed in the accident and her family had alleged foul play. Her father was 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. The local court here has framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case. The apex court 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 daily basis and completing it within 45-days.
During the trial in the rape case which was held in-camera, thirteen prosecution witnesses and nine defence witnesses were examined. A special court was also held at AIIMS hospital here to record the statement of the rape survivor, who was admitted there after she was air-lifted from a hospital in Lucknow.
The woman and her family is provided CRPF security as per the apex court's orders. They have now been shifted to a rented accommodation in the national capital with the assistance of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).
