UP legislator Kuldeep Sengar, convicted of rape, disqualified from state assembly
Kuldeep Sengar represented Bangarmau in the state’s Unnao district in the assembly. A four-term legislator, Sengar had won the assembly election from Bangarmau assembly seat on BJP ticket in March 2017.
Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Senger, sentenced to life in jail for raping a teenager, was on Tuesday disqualified as the member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
Senger was convicted in the rape case and handed a life sentence by a court in Delhi in December last year.
He represented Bangarmau in the state’s Unnao district in the assembly. A four-term legislator, Sengar had won the assembly election from Bangarmau assembly seat on BJP ticket in March 2017.
He was expelled from the party in August last year after the court held him guilty of kidnapping and raping the girl in Unnao in 2017.
Principal secretary (legislative assembly), Pradeep Kumar Dubey, said in a notification that Sengar lost the legislative assembly membership on the day he was sentenced.
Sengar has been deemed disqualified with effect from December 20, 2019, in view of the Election Commission order of October 13, 2015, and the Supreme Court’s order in July 2013.
The Bangarmau assembly seat will now be considered vacant from December 20, 2019, Dubey said.
Sengar had raped the girl on June 4, 2017, but her complaints of sexual abuse were ignored by the local police due to his political influence.
Her father was allegedly beaten up by the brother of the MLA, Atul Sengar. Instead of taking the father to a hospital, the police lodged him in jail in an arms case where he succumbed to his injuries.
The rape survivor attempted to set herself on fire outside the chief minister’s residence on April 8, 2018, alleging police inaction in the rape case. The incident led to public outrage and the state government transferred the case to CBI.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against Sengar in 2018 under section 376 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act 2012.
The investigation agency arrested Sengar and his acquaintances.
On July 28 last year, the rape survivor was severely injured after the car in which she was travelling was hit by a truck. Two of her family members were killed and her lawyer was injured.
On the plea of the rape survivor, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi.
The Delhi court had also ordered Sengar to pay Rs 25 lakh fine and the judge said, out of that amount, the girl would get Rs 10 lakh as compensation.
Praising the rape survivor for fighting against an influential politician, the court had observed that Sengar had betrayed the trust reposed in him by the people.
The court also ordered CBI to continue her threat assessment every three months.
It is the second disqualification of an assembly member in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP MLA from Hamirpur, Ashok Chandel, was disqualified in early 2019 following his conviction in a murder case.
