SENGAR MOVES HIGH COURT TO CHALLENGE CONVICTION IN UNNAO RAPE CASE
NEW DELHI: Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar moved the Delhi high court on Wednesday challenging his conviction and life sentence for raping a minor girl in Unnao in 2017.
The plea is yet to be cleared from the Delhi high court registry, following which it could be listed for hearing later. In his plea, Sengar has sought the quashing of the December 16, 2019, judgment of the trial court which convicted him.
He has also sought setting aside of the December 20 order sentencing him to imprisonment till the remainder of his life.
On December 16, the trial court convicted 54-year-old Sengar under various provisions, including Section 376 (2) of the Indian Penal Code which deals with a public servant who “takes advantage of his official position and commits rape on a woman in his custody as such public servant or in the custody of a public servant subordinate to him”.
District and sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma awarded Sengar the maximum punishment prison until the “remainder of his natural biological life”, and also imposed an exemplary fine of ~25 lakh to be paid within a month. Sengar was held guilty under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The court acquitted a co-accused, Shashi Singh, giving her the benefit of doubt.
The minor girl was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017.
The trial in the lower court started on August 5 after the apex court transferred the matter to Delhi from Unnao, and hearings were conducted on a day-to-day basis. The Supreme Court, after taking cognisance of the rape survivor’s letter written to the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, on August 1 last year transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape case from a Lucknow court to a court in Delhi with directions that the trial be completed in 45 days.
Ajendra Awasthi, the lawyer of Unnao rape survivor, said Kuldeep Sengar challenging his conviction in a superior court was his right. “He can approach High Court and Supreme Court, it is well within his rights; we will present our case strongly when the court asks us to do.”