New Delhi: In an unusual argument, expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar Thursday told a Delhi court that if he has done anything wrong, he should be hanged and acid poured in his eyes.
He was convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the death of the Unnao rape victim’s father.
Sengar, who himself argued during the hearing on quantum of sentence, claimed before District Judge Dharmesh Sharma that he has no involvement in the murder of the victim’s father who died in judicial custody April 9, 2018.
“Give justice to me or else hang me, put acid in my eyes if I have done something wrong,” he told the judge.
Sengar, who was convicted by the court along with seven others March 4 in the case, denied any involvement in the death of victim’s father and asserted that he has done no wrong.
Sengar was sentenced to jail December 20 last year for “remainder of his natural biological life” in a separate case for raping the woman in 2017 when she was a minor.
During the arguments Thursday, the judge told Sengar that he has already been held guilty and he cannot deny his involvement as the records clearly suggested that he was on call with the police officials when the victim’s father was being beaten up in custody.
Sengar said he has two daughters and requested the judge that he be let-off. “You have a family. Everyone has. You should have thought all this while committing the crime but you went on to break all the laws. Now will you say no to everything? Till when will you deny?” the judge observed.
The CBI sought maximum punishment for Sengar and others, including the two convicted policemen in the case — the then in-charge of Makhi police station Ashok Singh Bhadauria and then sub-inspector KP Singh.
The CBI’s counsel argued that being public servants, it was the duty of these two police officers to maintain law and order but they did not fulfill their duties and did not give timely treatment to the victim’s father.
These police officers were involved in the conspiracy and deserve stricter punishment, the CBI counsel told the court, which would continue hearing arguments on quantum of sentence Friday.
The court had March 4 convicted Sengar and seven others of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, saying he had no intention of killing the victim’s father.
Along with Sengar, Bhadauria and Singh, the court had held — Vineet Mishra, Birendra Singh, Shashi Pratap Singh, Suman Singh and Atul (Sengar’s brother) — guilty of committing offence under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The other sections read with it are 166 (public servant disobeying law to cause injury to a person), 167 (public servant framing incorrect document to cause injury), 193 (false evidence), 201 (disappearance of evidence), 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record to save person from punishment), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.
The court, however, had acquitted other accused — constable Amir Khan, Shailendra Singh, Ram Sharan Singh and Sharadveer Singh — giving them the benefit of doubt.
The CBI had examined 55 witnesses in support of the case and the defence had examined nine witnesses. The court had recorded the statements of the rape victim’s uncle, mother, sister and one of her father’s colleague who had claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident.
According to the CBI, April 3, 2018, there was an altercation between the rape victim’s father and one Shashi Pratap Singh. The charge sheet filed July 13, 2018, said the victim’s father and his co-worker were returning to their village, Makhi, when they asked Shashi for a lift.
Shashi denied them the lift, triggering an altercation among them, the CBI had alleged adding that Shashi called his associates, following which Kuldeep’s brother Atul Singh Sengar reached the spot along with others and beat up the woman’s father and his co-worker.
The woman’s father was subsequently taken to the police station by them where an FIR was lodged against him and he was arrested.
The charge sheet said that all this while, Kuldeep Sengar was in touch with the district police superintendent and Makhi police station in-charge Ashok Singh Bhadauria. Later, he also spoke to the doctor who examined the rape victim’s father.
The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court August 1 last year.
In July, 2019 a truck had rammed into the car the rape victim was travelling in with some family members and her lawyer. Two of her aunts died in the incident. She was airlifted from a hospital in Lucknow and brought to AIIMS in Delhi.
The victim has been provided accommodation in Delhi and is under CRPF protection.
PTI