Give me justice or hang me, says Sengar to court
NEW DELHI: Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Thursday told a Delhi court that he was not involved in the 2018 custodial murder of the father of a woman he was last year convicted of raping when she was a minor. “Give justice to me or else hang me, put acid in my eyes if I have done something wrong,” he told the court during a hearing on the quantum of sentence to Sengar and seven other convicts in the custodial killing case.
The woman’s father died in judicial custody in April 2018. The Delhi court convicted Sengar on March 4 of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the case, saying had no intention of killing the father. On December 20, Sengar was sentenced to jail for the “remainder of his natural biological life” for the rape.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma told Sengar he has been held guilty and cannot deny his involvement as the records clearly suggested that he was on in touch with the policemen when the father was being assaulted in custody.
Sengar told the court he has two daughters and requested the judge to let him off. “You have a family. Everyone has. You should have thought all this while committing the crime but you went on to break all the laws. Now, will you say no to everything? Till when will you deny?” Sharma asked.
Sengar, his brother and three aides were convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt and relevant sections of Arms Act of the Indian Penal Code. Policemen Ashok Singh Bhadauria and KP Singh were also convicted for registering a false complaint against the father as well as for assaulting him in judicial custody.
“The accused are involved in a chain of actions and each one of the conspirators had knowledge as to the ultimate common objective in creating an example out of the victim, so as to silence him and deter him from pursuing any vindictive complaint against them,” the court said on March 4.
The prosecution on Thursday sought maximum punishment for Sengar and other convicts, including the two policemen.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s lawyer argued it was the duty of the two police officers to maintain law and order but they did not fulfil their duties and did not give timely treatment to the father. These police officers were involved in the conspiracy and deserve stricter punishment, the lawyer told the court.
The court will continue hearing arguments on quantum of sentence to the convicts on Friday. It last week acquitted other accused--constable Amir Khan, Shailendra Singh, Ram Sharan Singh, and Sharadveer Singh-giving them the benefit of doubt.
The CBI examined 55 witnesses in the case and the defence nine. The court had recorded the statements of the rape survivors’ uncle, mother, sister and one of her father’s colleagues, who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident.
The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1 last year. In July 2019, a truck had rammed into the car the rape survivors was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer. Two of her aunts died in the incident. The survivor was airlifted from a hospital in Lucknow and brought to Delhi for treatment. The survivor has been provided accommodation in Delhi and is under the Central Reserve Police Force protection.