NEW DELHI: The much-awaited judgment in the Unnao rape case involving expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is likely to be pronounced on Monday.
Incidentally, Monday marks the seven years of the Nirbhaya gang rape that had shaken the entire nation.
Concluding the in-camera proceedings earlier this month, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma had said that he is likely to pronounce the verdict on December 16.
The day-to-day hearing was ordered by the Supreme Court in August when it transferred the case from Lucknow to the national capital after taking cognizance of the rape survivor’s letter written to then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.
The Delhi court was directed to hold a trial on a daily basis and complete it within 45 days. Sengar had allegedly kidnapped and raped the woman in 2017 when she was a minor.
The woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor. The court has framed charges against co-accused Shashi Singh in the case. Sengar was expelled from the BJP in August 2019.
The court had on August 9 framed charges against the MLA and Singh under Sections 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to compel for marriage), 376 (rape) of the IPC and other relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
On July 28, the car of the woman who had accused Sengar was hit by a truck. While she was severely injured, her two aunts were killed in the accident.
Her family had alleged foul play.
Her father was allegedly framed in an illegal arms case and arrested on April 3, 2018.
He died while in judicial custody a few days later, on April 9.
The local court has framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case.