Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court to challenge his conviction and life imprisonment for raping a teenager in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, PTI reported.
A court in Delhi had on December 20 sentenced the legislator to life imprisonment and also ordered him to pay Rs 25-lakh compensation to the complainant. Sengar was convicted of raping the woman, then a minor, in 2017.
The judge had heard the case on a daily basis from August 5 after it was transferred from a court in Lucknow to Delhi on the Supreme Court’s directions. The proceedings were held in camera.
Sengar was convicted for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child.
There are multiple cases in connection with the woman and the crimes allegedly committed against her.
In July, the complainant was involved in a car crash in which two of her aunts, one who was a crucial witness in the rape case, were killed. The complainant and her lawyer were also severely injured, and the family had alleged Sengar was behind the car crash. There is a case of conspiracy currently ongoing in this regard.
The woman’s father had also been arrested in an illegal arms case, in which he was later found to have been framed, in April 2018. He died in judicial custody a few days later and a murder case was filed against Sengar, his brother and nine others.
There is also a separate gangrape case involving the complainant and Sengar that is going on.
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