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HomeIndiaVillage head to powerful MLA, the rise of Kuldeep Sengar until 2017...

Village head to powerful MLA, the rise of Kuldeep Sengar until 2017 Unnao rape case

Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his aides have been found guilty of kidnapping and gang-raping a minor in Unnao in 2017.

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Lucknow: A Delhi court Monday found expelled BJP MLA from Bangarmau, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, and his cohorts guilty of kidnapping and gang-raping a minor in his home district of Unnao two years ago.

The Tis Hazari court had framed numerous charges against Sengar, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, rape and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Since the incident, the victim and her family seem to have been targeted — she is in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences after being in a car crash, while her father and two aunts have died, and her uncle is in jail.

The Supreme Court had directed the case to be transferred from Lucknow to Delhi, where there had been daily closed-door hearings since 5 August.

Sengar is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, a far cry from the time when he was a key player in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, and had been associated with every major party in the state.


Also read: Unnao rape survivor’s case shows rural India needs a MeToo


Rise through the ranks

Sengar’s political career began in the Makhi gram panchayat in 1996, where he rose to become the pradhan (village head). His mother Chunni Devi was also pradhan twice, while his brother Atul Singh’s wife Archana is the current pradhan.

Sengar then moved on to greener pastures under the banner of the Youth Congress, and never looked back.

His election from Bangarmau in 2017 was the fourth successive time he became an MLA — with three different parties.

In 2002, he was elected to the UP assembly from the Unnao Sadar seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, before switching to the Samajwadi Party in 2007 and being elected from Bangarmau.

He remained with the SP in 2012, winning the elections from Bhagwantnagar, but he rebelled against the party in 2016, getting his wife Sangeeta to contest district panchayat polls against the SP candidate and ensuring her victory.

Then, in January 2017, just ahead of the UP assembly polls, Sengar joined the BJP, which gave him a ticket from his old seat Bangarmau. Not only did he win his fourth successive election, wife Sangeeta also won her second election and became head of the district panchayat.

Another younger brother, Manoj Singh, was the block pramukh of Miyaganj from 2005 to 2010.


Also read: We have all let down the Nirbhaya of Unnao


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. As the Editor sometimes explains, this man has the ultimate currency of politics : Electability. In a system where power is completely fungible, the doors of all political parties will always be open for men like Sengar.

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