A Delhi court on Wednesday found seven people guilty in the custodial death of the father of a woman who was raped by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao. Sengar is among the seven people found guilty. The court in the Tis Hazari complex acquitted four people in the case.
The court convicted Sengar and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the crime. The court also criticised the doctors who treated the survivor's father.
In December last year, Sengar was found guilty of raping the woman and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sengar raped the woman in 2017, when she was a minor.
The rape survivor's father died on April 9, 2018, in judicial custody. It was following his death that the 'Unnao rape case' hit headlines, prompting mass protests amid allegations the Uttar Pradesh government was going slow on investigating Sengar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had examined 55 witnesses in support of the case and the defence examined nine witnesses. The court had recorded the statements of the rape survivor's uncle, mother, sister and one of her father's colleagues who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident.
According to the CBI, on April 3, 2018, there was an altercation between the survivor's father and Shashi Pratap Singh, an aide of Sengar.
The charge-sheet filed on July 13, 2018, said the survivor's father and his co-worker were returning to their village, Makhi, when they asked Shashi Pratap Singh for a lift.
Shashi Pratap Singh denied them the lift, triggering an altercation among them. Shashi Pratap Singh called his associates, following which MLA's brother, Atul Singh Sengar ,reached the spot along with others and beat up the survivor's father and his co-worker.
The survivor's father was subsequently taken to the police station by them and an FIR was lodged against him. He was arrested.
The charge-sheet said that all this while Kuldeep Sengar was in touch with the district police superintendent and Makhi police station in-charge Ashok Singh Bhadauria. Later, he also talked to the doctor who examined the survivor's father.
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The court had earlier framed charges against Sengar, his brother Atul, Bhadauria, sub-inspector Kamta Prasad, constable Amir Khan and six others in the case.
In July last year, a truck rammed into the car the rape survivor was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer. Two of her aunts died in the incident.
She was airlifted from a hospital in Lucknow and brought to the AIIMS in Delhi for better care as she continued to be critical. She has been given accommodation in Delhi and is under CRPF protection.
