Sengar disqualified from UP assembly
LUCKNOW: Unnao rape convict, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, was on Tuesday disqualified from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly.
Sengar’s disqualification means that Bangarmau assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, from where Sengar was elected in March 2017, has fallen vacant since the expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker was convicted by a Delhi court on December 20 last year for raping a minor on June 4, 2017. The BJP expelled Sengar, a four-time MLA, last August after the court held him guilty of kidnapping and raping the girl in Unnao in 2017.
Pradeep Kumar Dubey, principal secretary, UP legislative assembly, issued a notification upholding Sengar’s disqualification from the UP assembly with effect from December 20, the day he was convicted.
The Delhi court had pronounced its verdict of life imprisonment on December 20, 2019 and Sengar has been deemed disqualified from that date, the notification said. His seat has been declared vacant from that date, it added.
Sengar is convicted for “the remainder of natural biological life” under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 5 (c) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
The court has also ordered the lawmaker to pay ~25 lakh fine, of which the rape survivor will get ~10 lakh as compensation.
Praising the rape survivor for fighting against an influential politician, the court had observed that Sengar had betrayed the trust reposed in him by the people. The court also ordered CBI to continue her threat assessment every three months.
The case hit the headlines after the victim attempted selfimmolation outside the chief minister’s residence in April 2017 when the police did not take action on her complaint.
The victim’s father, who had been arrested by the police, had died in police custody two days later, after he was allegedly beaten up in the lock-up by Sengar’s brother, Atul Sengar.
The case was later handed over to the CBI and Kuldeep Sengar, his brother Atul and others were arrested.
In July 2019, the rape victim met with a serious accident in Rae Bareli. Her two female relatives died in the car crash while she and her lawyer were grievously injured.
Both were airlifted to Delhi for treatment and the family alleged that Sengar had masterminded the accident. However, the CBI did not find any evidence of his involvement in the accident.
Sengar is the second sitting MLA to be disqualified by the UP assembly. Ashok Chandel, BJP MLA from Hamirpur, was disqualified early last after he was convicted in a murder case.
(With Agency inputs)