Published 07:35 IST, August 14th 2019
Unnao rape case: MLA Kuldeep Senger charged for murder of survivor's father
Greeting the people of Pakistan on the eve of their Independence Day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hoped to "build on the commitments" made by Prime Minister Imran Khan to deepen efforts in promoting regional stability and peace.
A Delhi court on Tuesday framed charges against expelled BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar and nine others in connection with the death of the father of a woman who accused him of rape in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh.
Senger and others have been charged with murder, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, criminal conspiracy, false evidence under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The charges have been framed against 10 people including Sengar, his brother, Makhi police station in-charge Ashok Singh Bhadoria, sub-inspector Kantapratap Singh and constable Amir Khan under several sections including section 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person) and section 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury) of the IPC.
District and Session Judge Dharmesh Sharma directed that all the three accused police officials, who were out on bail, be taken into custody for allegedly framing the rape survivor's father in a false case and his murder in custody.
The judge observed that the MLA and his associates hatched a conspiracy to get the survivor's father in custody to ensure that he does not pursue his daughter's rape case against the legislator.
The man died in April last year in judicial custody where he was put for allegedly possessing illegal arms, days after his daughter complained about the alleged rape by Sengar.
The judge also clubbed the man's murder case and the case of him being falsely implicated in the Arms Act case.
The CBI later found the Arms Act case to be false.
This development has come three days after the counsel for the Unnao rape survivor told the court in New Delhi that the CBI "deliberately" did not name expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother as accused in the murder case of the rape survivor's father.
The submissions were made before District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, who held a special hearing on a court holiday with the Delhi High Court's permission to comply with the Supreme Court's 45-day deadline to conclude the trial.
The agency is also investigating the rape as well as a car accident which injured the woman and her lawyer critically and killed two of her aunts last month.
(With agency inputs)
Updated 07:54 IST, August 14th 2019