Unnao Rape Case: Delhi Court To Pronounce Verdict Tomorrow

The Tis Hazari Court in Delhi is scheduled to pronounce on Monday its judgement in the Unnao rape case against expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Sengar is accused of kidnapping and raping a Unnao woman in 2017. The court has also framed charges against co-accused Shashi Singh in the case. The CBI had concluded its arguments in the case on Monday and recording of statements of defence witnesses was completed in in-camera proceedings on December 2.

During in-camera proceedings, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma had said he was likely to pronounce the verdict on December 16 after the conclusion of the hearing of final arguments by the CBI and the accused in the case.

The case was heard on a day-to-day basis from August 5 after Supreme Court directed to transfer the case to Delhi from a court in Lucknow.

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) and other relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On July 28 this year, the car of the woman who had accused Sengar was hit by a truck and she was severely injured. The woman's two aunts were killed in the accident and 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 here has framed murder and other charges against the MLA, his brother Atul and nine others in the case. The apex court had on August 1 transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court in Uttar Pradesh to the court in Delhi with directions to hold trial on daily basis and completing it within 45-days.

During the trial in the rape case which was held in-camera, thirteen prosecution witnesses and nine defence witnesses were examined. A special court was also held at AIIMS hospital here to record the statement of the rape survivor, who was admitted there after she was air-lifted from a hospital in Lucknow.

The woman and her family is provided CRPF security as per the apex court's orders. They have now been shifted to a rented accommodation in the national capital with the assistance of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).