Unnao Custodial Death: Sengar Sentenced to 10 Yrs Imprisonment

Sengar and his brother Atul Sengar have been asked to pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to the victim’s family

The special court in Delhi on Friday, 13 March, sentenced all those convicted for the custodial death case of the Unnao rape survivor's father – including expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and two policemen – to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Sengar and his brother Atul Sengar have also been directed to pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to the victim’s family.

The rape survivor's father had died while in judicial custody on 9 April 2018. The court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to take disciplinary action against doctors who had treated the father of the Unnao rape survivor when he was injured in custody.

Sengar was also convicted in December 2019 in the rape case of the survivor – who was a minor girl in 2017, when the incident took place. He was pronounced guilty of rape and sexual assault of a child under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act, as well as criminal intimidation under Section 506 of the IPC.

‘There Can Be No Denying the Fact That Rule of Law Was Broken’

While announcing the judgment, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said, "The victim lost her father. She can't return to her home. There are four kids in the family – three of them are girls – all four are minors."

“There can be no denying the fact that rule of law was broken. Ashok Singh Bhadauria, KP Singh and Kuldeep Singh Sengar are public functionaries they are supposed to observe the rule of law. The fact that he (father) was beaten up, paraded and ultimately died this is not a fit case for leniency”, he added, reported The Indian Express.

“The state of Uttar Pradesh shall take appropriate disciplinary proceedings against the doctors concerned whose gross medical negligence led to the death of the victim in terms of inquiry report proved on the record.”

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma

The court had earlier, while hearing a plea filed by the survivor, refused to direct the CBI to initiate a probe against the doctors saying it was the prerogative of the premier investigative agency to conduct the prosecution. The plea, filed by advocate Dharmendra Mishra, alleged that the doctors at the district hospital had deliberately not examined the father of the woman properly at the behest of Sengar.

The court convicted policemen Ashok Singh Bhadauria and KP Singh for registering a false complaint (Sections 211 and 218) against the father, and for assaulting him in judicial custody.

(With inputs from Indian Express and PTI)