Indian politician arrested over rape case
INDIAN police say a legislator from the governing BJP has been arrested on charges of abducting and raping a teenage girl a year ago.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar (50), a member of the Uttar Pradesh state legislative assembly, has been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in June. Sengar has denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.
Sengar was arrested on Friday after questioning, Uttar Pradesh police chief OP Singh said.
The girl has alleged she was raped in June in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh and has been trying to lodge a complaint with the police since August.
India’s top investigative body, the Central Bureau of Investigation, is currently investigating the case.
The case made national headlines after the victim tried to kill herself on April 8, in front of the home of Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh chief minister, alleging the police had refused to register her case.
A day later, her father died in police custody after he was beaten by Sengar’s brother, who has since been arrested. The police finally registered a case against the politician on Thursday, almost 10 months after the incident, saying it was not filed earlier because of discrepancies in the girl’s statement.
The girl and her family have been given police protection. The girl has alleged that her father was beaten and killed following orders from Sengar.
The father, who was brought to hospital from jail, died on Monday, from wounds suffered during the alleged assault. A toxicology report says he died of “shock and septicaemia”.
Sengar has been remanded to CBI custody for seven days in the case by a Lucknow court, according to Indian news media reports.
CBI officials said they would question Sengar and also take him to Unnao to reconstruct the scene of the crime and to collect evidence against him.
He is further expected to be confronted with the accuser and her family.
Local police filed a case on Thursday against Sengar that include provisions filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
“We have filed an FIR (First Information Report) today under the sections 363, 366, 376 that deals with rape under the Indian Penal Code as well as the POCSO act,” Kunwar Bahadur Singh, deputy superintendent of police at Unnao police station, said. — Al Jazeera. A 39-YEAR-OLD actor from Centurion, in Gauteng, died after he slipped and fell off a cliff at the Sterkspruit Waterfall in the Drakensberg while filming a movie scene.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the incident happened on Thursday at around 17:15.
“They were busy filming a movie when he slipped and fell into the water. Our search and rescue team couldn’t go out yesterday (Thursday) because it was too dangerous.”
Zwane said the actor’s body was recovered by the Pietermaritzburg search and rescue team on Friday at around 10:00.
He said an inquest docket had been opened. — Sapa