Sengar sentencing on Dec 20 CBI to seek removal of court’s remarks
NEW DELHI: Kuldeep Singh Sengar, held guilty by a special court on Monday of raping a minor in 2017, was asked by the court on Tuesday to submit the nomination papers he filed ahead of the 2017 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, so that it could assess his financial worth and decide on an appropriate compensation for the victim.
Sengar was a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator who has since been expelled from the party. His sentencing will happen on December 20; the Central Bureau of Investigation has asked for the maximum punishment for him.
On Monday, the court said that the testimony of the survivor and her mother was truthful and powerful. It , however, acquitted Shashi Singh, a co-accused in the case who was charged with criminal conspiracy for taking the minor to Sengar’s house on the pretext of getting her a job.
On Tuesday, the public prosecutor told the court that showing any mercy to Sengar would be a travesty of justice. He also sought compensation for the victim stating that the financial condition of the convict be taken into account while deciding the sentence.
Sengar’s counsel claimed he has an unblemished record and not been named in any other crime besides this. He also added that Sengar has two minor daughters. Mir pointed out that the Supreme Court has already awarded ~25 lakh as compensation to the survivor..
NEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will seek the removal of some “unwarranted remarks” of a special court that pulled up the agency for its delay in filing the charge sheet in the rape case involving expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Senger, agency officials said on Tuesday.
The court also slammed CBI for not having a woman investigation officer for the case; it convicted Sengar on Monday of abducting and raping a minor girl in 2017.
CBI officials said that the criticism is unwarranted and pointed out that the charge sheet against Senger was filed within the stipulated 90-day period. The case was shifted to the federal agency in April 2018 on the Allahabad high court’s order.
A CBI official said on condition of anonymity that a male officer probed the case under the supervision of a female joint director.
Former CBI director A P Singh said the agency should get the harsh remarks expunged.
But N R Wasan, a former CBI special director, said, going by the criticism of the agency’s investigation and alleged delay in filing the final report, it must look into the conduct of its officials and hold them accountable.
Unlike the 2002 Gujarat riots case, where CBI won the victim’s trust by moving the high court seeking harsher punishment for the culprits, in this particular case, the special court said no such effort was made to make the victim comfortable.
“CBI has not explained the fact that when the investigation in the alleged kidnapping, illegal confinement and gang rape… had been taken over by them on 13.04.2018 ... and it is also clear from the police report that almost entire investigation had been completed by the end of July 2018, what prevented the CBI from not filing the charge sheet without any delay…,’’ the court remarked while convicting Sengar. It added that the charge sheet was filed over a year later on October 2.
The court said that it appears that somewhere the investigation in the case has not been fair to the rape victim and her family. “The investigation has not been conducted by a woman officer as mandated by Section 24 of the POCSO [Protection of Children from Sexual Offences] Act and successive statements of the victim girl ‘AS’ had been recorded by calling her at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office without both+ering for the kind of harassment, anguish, and re-victimisation that occurs to a victim of sexual assault in such case,” district judge Dharmesh Kumar said in his verdict.