New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday put on trial the expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar for allegedly kidnapping and raping a minor in Unnao in 2017, saying charges were "prima facie" found.
District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said that prima facie charges were found against Sengar for allegedly conspiring with co-accused Shashi Singh to bring the girl to the legislator's residence on the pretext of getting her a job, sexually assaulting her and threatening to harm her and her family members if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
The court also framed charges against Singh for allegedly taking her to Sengar's house on June 4, 2017 without the consent of her parents with the knowledge that she would be subjected to rape.
The charges framed against the MLA include sections 376 (1)(rape), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to compel for marriage etc.), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation), punishable under India Penal Code, and sections 3 and 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO (Protection of Child from Sexual Offences) Act.
The charges framed against Singh include sections 363 (kidnapping), 376 (1) (rape), 366 (abducting or inducing a woman to compel for marriage etc), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 109 (abetment) of the IPC and sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act.
The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Both the accused, however, denied the allegations saying they have been falsely implicated in the case and claimed trial.
Sengar and nine others have been also booked for murder by the CBI in the recent accident of the rape survivor and her lawyer - both critically injured. The woman's family has alleged foul play.
The court also directed the investigating officer (IO) to apprised it of the medical condition of the survivor and her lawyer, who are admitted to AIIMS hospital here.
It directed the hospital authorities to provide at least two rooms to the family members of the survivor, with the facilities of three times meals a day.
The expenses of the facilities should be incurred or reimbursed by the CBI, it said.
"It is made clear that this order be complied with strictly, failing which the members of the governing body, or manager shall face contempt of the proceedings of this court," the court said.
The court also asked the IO to submit a report in a sealed cover on the next date of hearing, that is, August 13.
The Supreme Court had transferred four criminal cases from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi - the 2017 rape case; a fake matter under the Arms Act against the father of the rape survivor; his death in police custody, and the gang rape of the woman - and directed to hold trial on a daily basis completing it within 45-days.
Sengar, a four-time legislator who represents Bangermau in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, is the main accused in the rape case and is lodged in jail since April, 2018.
The agency has also booked Sengar, his brother, Atul Singh Sengar, for allegedly assaulting the father of the survivor and framing him in an Arms Act case, in collusion with three state police officials and five others.