Rapist, murderer and Member of Legislative Assembly, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, has been exposed after gangraping a 17-year-old teenager in Unnao, with the aid of Shashi Singh, the woman who lured the victim into the rapists’ house for a job on 4 June 2017.
In the charge-sheet filed in a special CBI court, Sashi Singh had been charged with criminal conspiracy and other offences under IPC and Section 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) which relates to rape of minors.
In February, the survivors’ family had appealed to the court, seeking to include the rapists’ name in the case which only named Shubham Singh, Shashi Singh, and eight others. The rapist legislator, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, had not been filed a charge against.
At one stage, the survivor had attempted self-immolation to protest police inaction, which forced the law-process to begin. After a year of resistance by the survivor and her family, the influential legislator was named in the rape case.
THE SURVIVORS FATHER
Subsequently, the survivor’s father had been implicated in a fake case of possession of illegal firearms under the Arms Act on April 3, for unknown reasons, and put in jail on April 5.
A video, showing the survivor’s father, had quickly gone viral, in which the father shares that he was mercilessly beaten up, including with rifle butts, by the rapist’s brother and others in the presence of police personnel. The father was killed in judicial custody, with the post-mortem report suggesting serious injuries to his body.
The girls’ family members had reported last year that the rapist’s accomplices had gone around in their village threatening the villagers to not open their mouths against Sengar. “They also made videos of villagers to support their case. One of the persons among them is jail warder. Locals residents of Makhi village know him (the jail warder) because he used to visit the MLA’s house regularly.”
Shortly after the CBI had filed a charge sheet against Sengar; Mohammad Yunus, a key witness in the murder of the survivor’s father, died under “mysterious circumstances” in August. Yunus was buried “hurriedly” without a post-mortem. It is common knowledge that if a key witness is killed off, the courts will have no other option but to release the accused for lack of evidence.
UNNAO GANG RAPE CASE
On 13 April 2018, the rapists were taken in by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning and kept in jail until the hearing, dated 20 July.
The most recent updates on the case were held in Allahabad High Court, which rejected the bail plea of the rapists. Singh had pleaded that at the time of the alleged rape, he was 50 km away from the scene and also her presence was not proved and, therefore, he should be granted bail.
MURDER
On 28 July 2019, In Uttar Pradesh, a speeding truck crushed the car in which the survivor was travelling in, along with her relatives, her key witness and her lawyer. The truck, according to reports, was driving recklessly on the wrong side of the road and had its nameplate smeared with black paint.
The survivor’s lawyer and key witness were killed in the accident, her mother is said to be in critical condition and undergoing treatment at Lucknow Trauma Centre. The survivor herself has received serious injuries and has still not been transferred to a better hospital despite demands.
The rape survivor’s sister suspected foul-play and alleged that the accident was a ‘conspiracy to eliminate the witnesses and family. “Sengar’s men are behind this incident. He uses a cell phone from inside the jail. He might be in jail but his men are outside. We are being threatened by his men continuously. We have been receiving constant threats. People even follow me when I go outside. One of the henchmen of the MLA, Naveen, had threatened my aunt of dire consequences,” the survivor’s sister said
THREE SECURITY GUARDS
What makes the case appear even sordid is the fact that even though a court had last year ordered the administration to provide the rape survivor with a security cover, the court-designated security personnel were absent when the girl and her relatives met with an “accident.”
The attempted murder, which is being sold as an accident, fits right into a pattern of similar incidents over the years since the survivor, then a teenager brought allegations of rape against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar of Bangarmau constituency in Unnao in 2017.
The CBI charged three police officers, including the station officer of Makhi police station, of being part of the conspiracy. CBI is quoted saying “the survivor, her mother and aunt are witnesses in the gangrape case in which Sengar is an accused. The trial in the case is yet to start.”The very next day the survivor’s father, framed in a false case, was reportedly thrashed by Sengar’s brother and his accomplices in police custody, leading to his death. A CBI investigation into the incident later found that Sengar and his partners tried to implicate members of the rape survivor’s family in false cases “to pressure her to drop the case.”
POLITICS
It makes for even uglier optics when a newly elected MP, Sakshi Maharaj, visits the rapist in jail and pays obeisance to his influence. Sahkshi who is himself charged with two cases of rape and two cases of murder is known for his famous speech which pointed at public shows of affection, as the reason for rape.
It is also pertinent to remember that despite the swirling allegations of rape and murder against him, the rapist has not yet expelled Sengar from the party. The rapist, who is of Thakur clan, is said to wield so much political influence in his constituency that the party is wary of turning him into an adversary.
