Unnao rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar likely to undergo potency test

Sources in the CBI said the agency has decided to get the potency test done as a part of the investigation into the Unnao rape case. An 18-year-old woman accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of raping her last year, when she was still a minor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to get a ‘potency test’ conducted on BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, accused in the Unnao rape case, sources in the investigation agency said.

BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the main accused for the alleged rape a minor last year in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao. Sengar has been arrested and charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act .(Subhankar Chakraborty/HT File Photo)

The test is likely to be conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS), Delhi.

The CBI had tried to get the test conducted at the King George Medical University (KGMU) and Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) in Lucknow but both institutions expressed their inability to conduct it as they didn’t have the facilities for it, the sources said.

“Potency test is conducted to ascertain whether the person facing rape charges is physically capable of committing rape or not,” said a senior CBI official.

“This test is also conducted to make sure that the rape accused does not plead in court during trial that he is impotent and cannot commit rape,” the official added.

Potency tests are conducted on the rape accused in some cases.

Read | Unnao rape survivor alleges magistrate confined her to hotel room, says was not even given water

As Sengar’s CBI custody remand ends on Friday, the federal agency is likely to approach the special CBI court in Lucknow again to seek an extension in order to run the potency test.

Sengar, a BJP MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao district, was arrested on April 13 after a woman accused him of raping her last June. He has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act since the victim was 17 years old at the time.

The CBI also arrested Sengar’s younger brother Atul Singh Sengar, who is charged with killing the girl’s father who died in police custody.

With these arrests, the CBI has managed to get custodial remand of most of the persons associated with the case, who include Virendra Singh alias ‘Babua’, Vineet, Shalu and Sonu Singh – all associates of the BJP legislator.

The CBI has also arrested a woman, Sashi Singh, who was accused of taking the victim to Sengar’s residence in Makhi village by the victim’s mother.

Sashi is also accused of keeping guard outside the room during the rape.

The case, along with that of the rape of an 8-year-old in Jammu’s, stoked public outrage as people demanded justice for girls and better security for women. The Modi government last week passed an ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 years.