BJP MLA in UP gets 25 years in jail for raping minor, faces disqualification from Assembly
Sonbhadra (UP), Dec 15: A court here on Friday sentenced BJP MLA Ramdular Gond to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for the rape of a girl nine years ago, setting the stage for his disqualification from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
According to the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.
Ahsan Ullah Khan, the additional district and session judge of the MP-MLA court in Sonbhadra, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Gond which would be used in the rape survivor's rehabilitation.
The rape survivor is now married and the mother of an eight-year-old girl.
Special Public Prosecutor Satyaprakash Tripathi said the court held the MLA from Duddhi assembly seat -- reserved for Scheduled Tribes -- guilty on December 12.
The incident took place in 2014 and a case was registered against Gond under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) as well as under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on the complaint of the rape survivor's brother.
Gond was not an MLA at that time while his wife was a gram pradhan, Tripathi added. The trial in the case started in a POCSO court but was later transferred to the MP-MLA court when Gond was elected as a legislator.
Before the pronouncement of the verdict on Friday, the MLA's lawyer urged the court for minimum punishment. He also assured the court that Gond would take all care of the family of the rape survivor.
The rape survivor's brother expressed satisfaction over the court's verdict and said that she got justice after a long period of struggle. The MLA, who was lodged in the district jail was brought to the court and taken back to the prison after the verdict was pronounced.
With Gond facing the prospect of losing Assembly membership, he is set to join an ignominious list of lawmakers from Uttar Pradesh who faced similar action in the past.
In October 2022, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, representing the Rampur Sadar seat in the Assembly, and the BJP's Vikram Singh Saini, an MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar, were disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
While the action against Khan was taken after being sentenced to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case, Saini was disqualified after he got a two-year jail term in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar, an MLA from Unnao, was disqualified from the assembly in February 2020 following his conviction in a rape case. He was earlier expelled by the BJP.
Azam Khan's son and Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan lost his Assembly membership in February this year after being sentenced to two years imprisonment for staging a sit-in on a highway after his cavalcade was stopped by the police for checking following an attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on December 31, 2007.
In May this year, BSP MP from Ghazipur Afzal Ansari was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after being sentenced to four years imprisonment in a kidnapping-and-murder case.
Afzal Ansari, the MP from Ghazipur, was sentenced by an MP/MLA court in connection with the murder of BJP MLA from Ghazipur Krishnanand Rai in 2005 and the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
His brother Mukhtar was also convicted in the same case and sent to 10 years in jail.
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
