Delhi Court Finds Sengar Guilty of Murder of Survivor's Father

Six others have also been convicted for the custodial death of Unnao rape victim’s father.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, former BJP MLA from Unnao, was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a minor girl in 2017.

(Photo: IANS)

Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court on Wednesday, 4 March, pronounced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and six others guilty for the case related to murder of Unnao rape survivor’s father in custody in April 2018. Four others accused in the case have been acquitted by the court.

The Court convicted Sengar of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the death of the Unnao rape victim’s father, PTI reported.

The rape victim's father had died in judicial custody on 9 April 2018.

District judge Dharmesh Sharma said Sengar had no intention of killing the victim's father.

"He was beaten in a brutal manner that led to his death," PTI quoted the judge as saying.

Sengar was also convicted in December last year in the rape case of the minor girl in 2017. He was pronounced guilty of rape and intimidation under Section 376 IPC and Section 5(c) POCSO Act.

The Backdrop

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had examined 55 witnesses in support of the case and the defence examined nine witnesses, according to PTI.

The court had recorded the statements of the rape survivor's uncle, mother, sister and one of her father's colleague who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident.

According to the CBI, on 3 April 2018, there was an altercation between the rape victim's father and one Shashi Pratap Singh. The chargesheet filed on 13 July 2018, said the victim's father and his co-worker were returning to their village, Makhi, when they asked Singh for a lift.

Singh denied them the lift, triggering an altercation among them. Singh called his associates, following which Kuldeep Sengar’s brother Atul Singh Sengar reached the spot along with others and beat up the woman’s father and his co-worker.

The woman's father was subsequently taken to the police station by them where an FIR was lodged against him and he was arrested.

The chargesheet said that all this while Kuldeep Sengar was in touch with the district police superintendent and Makhi police station in-charge Ashok Singh Bhadauria. Later he also spoke to the doctor who examined the rape victim's father, PTI reported.

Charges were framed against Sengar, his brother Atul, Bhadauria, sub-inspector Kamta Prasad, constable Amir Khan and six others in the case. The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on 1 August last year.

In July 2019 a truck rammed into the car the rape victim was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer. Two of her aunts died in the incident. She was airlifted from a hospital in Lucknow and to AIIMS in Delhi.

The victim has been provided accommodation in Delhi and is under CRPF protection.

(With inputs from PTI.)