New Delhi:A Delhi court while convicting the BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for the infamous Unnao rape case has shamed the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh and the CBI for their dubious roles.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma has noted 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 expressed surprise over the delay by the CBI in filing charge sheet in the rape case and said it prolonged trial against Sengar and others.
Referring to the POCSO, which had come into being to impart expeditious justice involving children as victims of sexual assault, the court 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.
The judge said that the CBI itself was not following the manual relating to investigation and prosecution.
The court, while holding the expelled BJP MLA guilty in the case announced the hearing will take place on Wednesday to fix the quantum of sentence.
It, however, acquitted co-accused Shashi Singh of all charges. Singh fainted in the court room when the judgement was pronounced.
The woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor. Sengar,53, a four-time BJP MLA from UP’s Bangermau, was expelled from the BJP in August 2019.
The judge has observed that the testimony of the victim was truthful and unblemished against a powerful person.
“I found her statement truthful and unblemished that she was sexually assaulted. She was under threat, worried. She is a village girl, not from cosmopolitan educated area… Sengar was powerful person. So she took her time..,” the judge said while reading out the verdict.
The court convicted Sengar for rape under Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act for offence of a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child. The court will hear arguments on quantum on sentence on Wednesday.The offences entail maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The trial in the high profile case was held in-camera after the Supreme Court transferred the matter from Unnao to the national capital.
