E-Paper
Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Sengar moves Delhi HC against conviction, life sentence
Fifty-four-year-old Kuldeep Sengar was awarded the maximum punishment of life term for “remainder of his natural biological life” and was also slapped a fine of ₹25 lakh to be paid within a month.
Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging his conviction and imprisonment for the remainder of his life for raping a minor girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, in 2017, PTI reported.
Sengar, who was expelled from the BJP last August, was convicted by the trial court on December 16, 2019 and sentenced on December 20. He has sought quashing of the order convicting him and the sentence of imprisonment for the rest of his life. Sengar’s co-accused in the case, a woman Shashi Singh was acquitted of all charges.
Fifty-four-year-old Sengar was awarded the maximum punishment of life term for “remainder of his natural biological life” and was also slapped a fine of ₹25 lakh to be paid within a month.
Sengar escaped a harsher sentence because the amendments made in August last year in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which carries a provision of death penalty, did not come into effect as the crime took place two years before the law was amended.
Sengar was held guilty under various provisions including the POCSO Act.
Sengar was convicted of kidnapping and raping the woman in 2017 when she was a minor. His trial began on August 5 last year on a daily hearing basis after it was transferred on the Supreme Court’s direction on August 1 to Delhi from Unnao following a letter the woman wrote to the then Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi.
The case hit the headlines on April 8, 2018 when the woman tried to immolate herself outside chief minister Yogi Adityanath residence, alleging police inaction despite her complaint.
On July 28, 2019, the woman and her lawyer were critically injured and her two aunts were killed after a speeding truck rammed into the car in which they were travelling.
