New Delhi:A Delhi court convicted expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Monday for raping a woman in Unnao in 2017 saying the victim's testimony was "truthful and unblemished" against a "powerful person".
The court 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.
The court will hear arguments on quantum on sentence on Wednesday.The offences entail maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, however, acquitted co-accused Shashi Singh of all charges.
Convicting Sengar, 53, under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court said the CBI proved that the victim was a minor and he was rightly prosecuted under the special law.
"I found her statement truthful and unblemished that she was sexually assaulted. She was under threat, worried. She is a village girl, not from cosmopolitan educated area... Sengar was powerful person. So she took her time..," the judge said while reading out the verdict.
When the judge started pronouncing the verdict, co-accused Singh fainted.
The court noted that after the victim wrote letter to the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, several criminal cases were filed against her family and "imprints of Sengar" were visible in them.
The court expressed surprise over the delay by the CBI in filing charge sheet in the rape case and said it prolonged trial against Sengar and others.
The court pulled up the CBI for delay in filing the charge as also the absence of women officer in conducting the probe "without bothering for the kind of harassment, anguish and re-victimisation that occurs for a victim of sexual assault".
It also expressed displeasure over the agency leaking selectively the vital information relating to the statement of the survivor to put a cloud over her case.
The court said that "according to the law there should be female officers in CBI to record the statement of victims in such cases but surprisingly the girl was called many times to CBI office instead of going to her residence".
Here's a timeline of events:
2017
June 4: The 17-year-old girl goes missing from her village, Mankhi in Uttar Pradesh (UP)
- Allegedly gang-raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his brother Atul Singh and their accomplices.
- A missing person's complaint is filed by her family members
June 21: She is found in Aurraiya
June 22: Case is registered under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping a woman to compel her for marriage) of the IPC
2018
April 3: Victim's father is thrashed by the MLA's brother Atul Sengar and his accomplices.
-Though both sides lodge complaints against each other, the police choose to arrest only her father, who is then sent to judicial custody
April 8: The survivor tries to immolate herself outside CM Yogi Adityanath’s residence in Lucknow, alleging police inaction against Sengar
April 9: Victim's father dies in police custody, and the post-mortem report points out
multiple injuries on his body
April 11: The survivor and her family are confined to a hotel room on the pretext of protection, without water or electricity
April 12: Sengar, Atul Singh and their accomplices are arrested by the CBI
April 14: The CBI arrests woman who allegedly took the girl to Sengar on the day of crime
December: FIR lodged against victim and her family for allegedly submitting forged age proof to show her as minor at the time of incident
2019
July 2: Victim's uncle is convicted in a 19-year-old case and sentenced to 10 years in prison on a case filed by Atul Singh
July 17: The victim and her family write a letter to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi expressing threat and danger
July 28: An over-speeding truck in Rae Bareli rams into the car in which the victim, her family and their lawyer were travelling, killing her two aunts, leaving the victim and the advocate critically injured
July 29: FIR registered at Gurubuxganj police station against Sengar and 9 others in connection with the road accident
Also read: Protesters heckle BJP ministers at Unnao rape victim's village
July 30: Victim's letter to CJI becomes public
July 31: SC takes cognisance of the letter, seeks report from its secretary general on delay in placing it before bench
Also read: Nirbhaya's mother appeals to SC, Center to execute the convicts immediately
August 1: BJP UP president announces Sengar's expulsion from party's central leadership
August 2: SC transfers five cases of crimes committed against the rape survivor and her family from a CBI court in Lucknow to its counterpart in Delhi and orders the State government to pay her ₹25 lakh as interim compensation
August 5: Day-to-day trial commences at Delhi's Tis Hazari Court
- Rape survivor air-lifted to Trauma Centre, AIIMS, from King George's Medical College in Lucknow
August 9: Court frames charge against Sengar and female co-accused Shashi Singh
September 11: Special temporary court set up at AIIMS to record statement of rape survivor
September 25: Rape survivor discharged from AIIMS
December 6: Rape survivor shifts to rented accommodation in Delhi arranged by Delhi Commission for Women on trial court's order
December 10: Court reserves judgement
December 16: Delhi court convicts Sengar for raping minor girl
- Acquits co-accused Shashi Singh
December 19: Arguments on sentencing will be heard on December 19
Also read: Unnao Rape: Kuldeep Sengar's verdict reserves for Dec 16
