New Delhi: New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday sentenced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to life imprisonment following his conviction in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma also imposed an exemplary fine of Rs 25 lakh in the case and has to be paid within a month.
"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. It also directed that the rape survivor be paid an additional Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the mother of the victim.
The court had on Monday convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child after holding the victim to be a minor.
Terming the Unnao case "an extraordinary one", where the court has to "consider her continued suffering", the CBI had sought life imprisonment, the maximum punishment for charges Sengar was convicted under.
The Unnao woman was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor. The rape complaint, however, was registered only after she attempted to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's official residence in Lucknow.
She took the extreme step after her father was allegedly thrashed by Sengar's brother, Atul Sengar, taken to jail instead of hospital even though he was grievously injured and died two days later in police custody. The matter came to light after a video clip showing Atul Sengar beating the father went viral on the social media.
Amidst public outrage, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and both the Sengars and two others were arrested.
On July 28 this year, the rape victim was severely injured after the car in which she was travelling was hit by a truck. Two of her aunts were killed in the accident and she and her lawyer were critically injured. The family alleged foul play in the accident.
The Supreme 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 incident from a Lucknow court to a court in Delhi with directions to hold trial on a daily basis and complete it within 45 days.
Sengar, a four-time BJP MLA from Bangermau in Unnao district, was expelled from the party in August.
The court had, on August 9, framed charges against the Sengar and Shashi Singh under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to compel for marriage), 376 (rape) of the IPC and other relevant sections of the POCSO Act.
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