Unnao rape case: Sengar breaks down on conviction, family expresses displeasure over verdict

Moments after a Delhi court here convicted expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, he broke down while his sister and children expressed displeasure over the verdict.

Family members and relatives of Sengar flocked outside the courtroom at Tis Hazari District Court complex where the judgement was pronounced convicting him for raping a woman in Unnao in 2017 when she was a minor.

The MLA's sister, who was outside the courtroom every day for almost five months now from morning till evening as the hearing took place in the case, sat praying in silence as she awaited the judgement.

She questioned as to why they have to go to higher courts and why did the trial court convict her brother in the first place, saying the judgement was "wrong".

Just as District Judge Dharmesh Sharma pronounced the verdict convicting Sengar in the case, she broke down.

Moments after the judgement was pronounced, she entered the courtroom and broke into tears beside Sengar. Following this, the MLA too shed a few tears.

Sengar's two daughters cried too as their aunt tried to console them saying their father did not do anything wrong and the fight was not over.

"The judgement was wrong and unfair. The fight is not over. We will fight," she told them.

The trial which started on August 5 this year after it was transferred from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi on the Supreme Court's directions, was carried on a day-to-day basis.

The court convicted Sengar, saying the rape survivor's testimony was "truthful and unblemished" against a "powerful person".

It convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child.

The court will hear arguments on quantum on sentence on Tuesday. The offences entail maximum punishment of life imprisonment.