Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Sengar to remain in jail for life; pay Rs 25L exemplary fine

Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar will remain in jail for entire life for raping a woman in Unnao in 2017, a Delhi court said on Friday while sentencing him for life.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma also imposed an exemplary fine of Rs 25 lakh in the case and it has to be paid within a month.

"This court does not find any mitigating circumstance, Sengar was public servant and betrayed people's faith," the judge said while declining the plea for lenient approach in sentencing him.

The conduct of 53-year-old Sengar was to intimidate the rape survivor, the court said.

It also directed that the rape survivor be paid an additional Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the mother of the victim.

Besides, the court directed the CBI to continue assessing threat perception to the life and security of the survivor and her family members every three months.

It said they will continue to reside in rented accommodation made available by Delhi Commission for Women for one more year and directed the UP government to pay Rs 15,000 per month for the rent.

The court had on Monday convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child after holding the victim to be a minor in 2017.

The court had said the victim's testimony was "truthful and unblemished" against a "powerful person".

The recent amendments made in August this year in the POCSO Act, which carries a provision of death penalty, did not come into effect as the incident took place in 2017 before the law was amended.

The woman co-accused in the case Shashi Singh was acquitted of all charges saying that the CBI failed to prove that she was a co-conspirator with Sengar in the act of sexual assault committed upon the victim and "it appears that she herself was a victim of circumstances".

Convicting Sengar, under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court said the CBI proved that the victim was a minor and he was rightly prosecuted under the special law.

The court had noted that it was proved by the prosecution that the movement of Sengar on the fateful day was not in sync with the movements of his three mobile SIM cards operating on his two mobile phones.

It had said that after the victim wrote letter to the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, several criminal cases were filed against her family and "imprints of Sengar" were visible in them.

The court had expressed surprise over the delay by the CBI in filing charge sheet in the gang rape case and said it had halted the progress against Sengar and Singh in the rape case.

In a separate case, the same woman was allegedly gang raped later by three other persons on June 11, 2017 in Unnao. The trial is yet to commence in that case.

The court had found that the delay of two months and ten days in reporting the crime of rape to the police was satisfactorily explained by the survivor.

The court had also pulled up the CBI for the absence of women officer in conducting the probe "without bothering for the kind of harassment, anguish and re-victimisation that occurs for a victim of sexual assault".

Referring to the POCSO, the court had said there was "nothing wrong" with law but its ineffective implementation on ground and lack of human approach of officers concerned led to a situation where justice was delayed.

It said the CBI itself was not following the manual relating to investigation and prosecution.

On July 28 this year, the car of the rape survivor was hit by a truck and she was severely injured. The woman's two aunts were killed in the accident and her family had alleged foul play.

The trial in the other four cases -- framing of the rape survivor's father in illegal firearms case, his death in judicial custody, conspiracy of Sengar with others in the accident case and the separate gang rape case of the survivor by three others -- are going on in the court.

“He is a public servant. People repose faith in him. He has betrayed it. He did everything possible to harm & scare the family”

Chronology of events in Unnao rape case

- Jun 4, 2017: The 17-year-old girl allegedly raped by BJP MLA Sengar.

- Apr 3, 2018: Rape survivor's father beaten up by some persons and arrested in a false case of illegal arms allegedly at the behest of Sengar and 10 others.

- Apr 8: Rape survivor tries to immolate herself outside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's official residence, alleging police inaction.

- Apr 9: Rape survivor's father dies in custody.

- Apr 10: Allahabad High Court transfers rape case to CBI.

- Apr 13: Sengar arrested.

- Jul 11: CBI files chargesheet in rape case.

- Jul 17, 2019: Rape survivor, her family write letter to CJI Ranjan Gogoi, expressing threat and danger to their lives allegedly from Sengar and his men.

- Jul 28: Over-speeding truck rams into a car in which rape survivor, her family and lawyer were travelling, killing two of her aunts, leaving her and the advocate critically injured.

- Jul 29: FIR registered at the Gurubuxganj police station in Raebareli against Sengar and nine others in connection with the road accident.

- Jul 30: Rape survivor's letter to the CJI comes to light.

- Jul 31: Supreme Court takes cognisance of the letter, seeks report from its secretary general on the delay in placing it before the bench.

- Aug 1: SC transfers five cases related to the rape case to Delhi, directs the trial court to complete the trial in 45 days.

- Aug 5: Day-to-day trial commences at the Tis Hazari court here.

- Rape survivor airlifted to Trauma Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi from King George's Medical College in Lucknow.

- Aug 9: Court frames charge against Sengar and female co-accused Shashi Singh in the rape case.

- Sep 11: Special temporary court set up at AIIMS to record the statement of the rape survivor.

- Sep 25: Rape survivor discharged from AIIMS.

-Dec 6: Rape survivor shifts to rented accommodation in Delhi arranged by the Delhi Commission for Women on the trial court's order.

- Dec 10: Court reserves judgment.

- Dec 16: Delhi court convicts Sengar for raping minor girl. Acquits co-accused Shashi Singh.

- Dec 20: Sengar sentenced to life imprisonment by court, a fine of Rs 25 lakh imposed on him.