NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday framed rape charges under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar in the Unnao rape case.
Judge Dharmesh Sharma also charged Sengar and his aide Shashi Singh under various Sections of the IPC including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape). The duo has been charged under Sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act.
Judge Sharma has been assigned the case as he has dealt with a lot of POCSO cases earlier and also boasts of a good disposal rate of such cases.
The Supreme Court last week had ordered the transfer of four of the five cases to the national capital and directed the court to complete the trial in the Unnao case within 45 days.
The Supreme Court directive came after the rape survivor’s car crashed with a truck in Rae Bareli district leaving two of her aunts dead and her lawyer and herself critically injured. Both the survivor and her lawyer were airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from a Lucknow hospital upon the directions of the apex court.
The agency, which has taken over the investigation from the Uttar Pradesh police, has booked 10 people, including Sengar for murder.
The expelled BJP lawmaker is currently lodged in Tihar jail in the Capital.
The CBI had on Thursday told the court that Sengar and his brother assaulted the father of the girl and framed him in an Arms Act case in collusion with three policemen and five others.The lawmaker and his aide have been charged under the stringent POCSO Act as the rape survivor, at the time of the incident in 2017, was a minor.