Unnao rape case: BJP expels accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, says report

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday expelled rape-accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, ANI reported. However, there has been no official confirmation so far.

Sengar was arrested on April 13, 2018, after a teenager accused him of raping her in June 2017, when she visited his home to ask for a job. The complainant had accused the police of not taking any action when she approached them after the alleged incident.

The expulsion came days after the complainant was critically injured in a car crash. A truck rammed into the car in which she was travelling on the highway. The 19-year-old and her lawyer were critically injured, while two of her aunts died in the collision. Though the court had appointed a security detail for the teenager, the personnel were not with her in the car. Moreover, the lorry’s number plate had been blackened out.

Congress General Secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi said the BJP has finally acknowledged having empowered a criminal. “Grateful to the SC for taking cognisance of the ‘Jungle Raj’ being unleashed in UP,” Gandhi wrote in a tweet. “Meanwhile, the BJP finally acknowledges having empowered a criminal and takes some action to correct itself and move in the direction of justice for a young woman who has suffered immeasurably.”

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court transferred five cases related to the Unnao rape complainant to a competent court in Delhi soon after Sengar’s expulsion. The top court also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to give Rs 25 lakh interim compensation to the teenager, and ordered the Central Reserve Police Force to provide security to the complainant and her family

Before lunch, the court had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to complete its inquiry into car crash involving the complainant within a fortnight. The agency booked Sengar and 10 others on murder charges in connection with the crash on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh chief Swatantra Dev Singh said Sengar had been suspended from the party and would stay suspended. But several people, including politicians, had questioned why he was not expelled.

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In April 2018, the complainant and her mother, attempted to immolate themselves outside Chief Minister Adityanath’s home in Lucknow. The very next day, the teenager’s father died in police custody, allegedly after being beaten up by Sengar’s brother. Sengar was also accused of framing the girl’s father in a false case in order to get him into police custody.

Ten days later, a witness in the death of the complainant’s father died. The state administration claimed that he died due to an illness. But his relatives alleged foul play and demanded an autopsy – which was not done.

Sengar was booked in a case of criminal conspiracy after the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the inquiry in May 2018, but the complainant’s family claimed there has not been much progress.