A day after a 17-year-old woman tried to set herself on fire near Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath residence, alleging police inaction against Bangarmau BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, whom she accused of sexual assault, the father of the victim died on Monday in judicial custody under mysterious circumstances.

The girl’s father, who was arrested in a case registered against him on April 3 – for voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and the sections of arms Act – was taken to the Unnao district hospital on Sunday night after he complained of abdominal pain and vomiting.

While the family members of the girl are accusing the MLA of orchestrating what they are calling to be a “murder”, no FIR has been registered against the MLA so far as the police is yet waiting for the postmortem report of the father.

Meanwhile, four people have been arrested on Monday in a cross FIR that was registered by the girl’s family on April 4 in answer to the April 3 FIR against the father. The four arrested have been identified as Vineet, Bauwa, Shailu and Sonu, who all are reported to be the MLA’s supporter. The station officer and four constables of the Makhi police station were suspended on Monday for being biased during the investigation in the case. The whole case has now been transferred to the Lucknow crime branch.

On Sunday, the girl and seven of her family members including her mother and maternal grandmother were stopped by the police near the CM residence where they were planning to attempt suicide, and were later brought to the Gautam palli police station.

Later in the day, the girl told the media that in June last year she was taken to MLA’s residence where he sexually assaulted her and her family was later threatened. He said that she is since then going here and there but police isn’t taking any action.

“He should be arrested and until he is not I am not going back home…. I will give my life otherwise….I was threatened that if I would tell anyone anywhere then my family members would be killed and thrown away. They beat my father on April 3,” the girl told the mediaperson.

The whole matter had started last year when two youth of the village had allegedly kidnapped the girl for marriage and a case was registered on June 20. After the girl was recovered 3-4 days later, based on her statement in which she alleged that she was raped by those two and one of their accomplices, all three – Shubham Singh, Naresh Tiwari and Brijesh Yadav were arrested under sections 376 D (gang-rape) of IPC and section 3/4of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Later, as per the Unnao police officials, suspecting that the MLA is helping these youth and their families against them, the family of the girl then started alleging that earlier on June 4 Shubham’s mother took her to the MLA’s residence promising her to help her with a job, where the MLA sexually assaulted the girl.

While no case was registered in that matter as there already was a case registered earlier in which a charge-sheet was filed and three were sent to jail. Also, in her statement recorded under 161 and 164 CrPC and there was no mention of any such incident. On February 12, the girl went to court under 156 (3) CrPC to register the case, however the matter is still in court and the next hearing is scheduled for April 12.

Earlier, denying all the allegations the MLA said, “Since last two day the conspirators have been trying to make this incident successful and today these reached the chief minister residence and tried to give a shape to the incident. I request the administration that the mobile numbers of these people should be taken out and there should be an investigation into who are a part of this conspiracy and who are criminals. Whoever is at fault should be punished,”

He added that the people who are making allegations against them have criminal background and are doing all this just because I helped those innocent youth who were made accused in the case registered by them.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> [India], Apr 9 (ANI): The father of a woman, who had alleged that she was raped by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and his accomplices, died in police custody, on Monday.

The woman's father was arrested on Sunday after the family attempted suicide outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Lucknow residence.

"The man was admitted to the hospital last night after he complained of abdominal pain and vomiting. He passed away in the early morning hours. He was admitted to the hospital by the police," Dr Atul, District hospital, Unnao told ANI.

However, the relatives alleged that he was murdered in the jail by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP MLA from Unnao named as accused by the rape victim. The woman and her family alleged that she was raped by the BJP MLA and his fellow accomplices, but no action was taken. The victim also said that she and her family were threatened after they had filed an FIR, which the Police had registered after stalling it for a year. The family further alleged that the MLA's brother had thrashed the woman's father on April 3 for refusing to cancel the FIR, but the Police booked the father instead, and locked him up for a period of one year. A probe into the rape case is underway and has been transferred to Lucknow. (ANI) </s> Pappu Singh, 50, was in judicial custody after a complaint was filed by his daughter's alleged rapists.

An 18-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao had alleged rape by BJP MLA and his brother and attempted suicide along with her family members by trying to immolate herself outside CM Yogi Adityanath's home on Sunday. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Unnao: The father of 18-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, who had alleged rape and attempted suicide along with her family members by trying to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home on Sunday, died on Monday morning at the district hospital.

Pappu Singh, 50, was in judicial custody after a complaint was filed by his daughter's alleged rapists. He was reportedly beaten up by their men last week. He was rushed to a hospital from the district jail on Sunday night and died during treatment on Monday.

Read: UP: Father of woman raped by BJP MLA dies in police custody

As many as six police personnel were suspended and four accused were arrested for allegedly beating up a rape victim's father here.

"Two police officers and four constables have been suspended, while four accused of beating the rape victim's father have been arrested," said Unnao Superintendent of Police (SP), Pushpanjali Devi.

District Magistrate Ravi Kumar NG said that the postmortem examination of the victim would be conducted by a panel of doctors to ascertain the cause of death.

Pappu was arrested on April 5 under the Arms Act after he was allegedly beaten up by Anil Singh, the MLA's brother.

The 18-year-old woman had alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother in 2017, but the police refused to take any action or register any case against them. She also claimed that her family was threatened after they tried to file an FIR (First Information Report).

Last Tuesday, her father was allegedly assaulted by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his brother and their associates, but an FIR was filed against the woman's father and he was arrested. On Sunday, when the man complained of abdominal pain, he was taken to the district hospital where he died.

"The incident happened while the man was in judicial custody. Magisterial inquiry will be conducted. If there have been lapses by the police, action will be taken," Deputy Inspector General of Police Pravin Kumar said.

Before attempting to immolate self, the woman had said she was raped and despite her family's pleas, no action was taken by the police. "I want all of them arrested otherwise I will kill myself. I had even gone to the chief minister with no result. When we tried to file a complaint, we were threatened," the woman had said.

Also Read: UP woman tries to kill self outside Yogi’s house, says BJP MLA raped her

Sengar, who has been a leader with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party earlier, has denied the allegations.

"It's a conspiracy hatched by my political opponents to damage my reputation... I have no problems with any probe. Let a probe be conducted, and the guilty be given the stringent punishment. If I am found guilty in the probe, I am ready to face the punishment," Sengar told news agency PTI. </s> The woman's father was arrested on Sunday after the family attempted suicide outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Lucknow residence.

However, the relatives alleged that he was murdered in the jail by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP MLA from Unnao named as accused by the rape victim. (Representational image)

Unnao (Uttar Pradesh): The father of a woman, who had alleged that she was raped by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and his accomplices, died in police custody, on Monday.

The woman's father was arrested on Sunday after the family attempted suicide outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Lucknow residence.

"The man was admitted to the hospital last night after he complained of abdominal pain and vomiting. He passed away in the early morning hours. He was admitted to the hospital by the police," Dr Atul, District hospital, Unnao told ANI.

Read : UP woman tries to kill self outside Yogi’s house, says BJP MLA raped her

However, the relatives alleged that he was murdered in the jail by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the BJP MLA from Unnao named as accused by the rape victim.

The woman and her family alleged that she was raped by the BJP MLA and his fellow accomplices, but no action was taken.

The victim also said that she and her family were threatened after they had filed an FIR, which the Police had registered after stalling it for a year.

The family further alleged that the MLA's brother had thrashed the woman's father on April 3 for refusing to cancel the FIR, but the Police booked the father instead, and locked him up for a period of one year.

A probe into the rape case is underway and has been transferred to Lucknow. </s> Indian Punjab Police personnel escort a police vehicle carrying the seven accused on June 10, 2019. Six of them were convicted while one was found not guilty.

PATHANKOT, India - An Indian court on Monday (June 10) convicted six men of involvement in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in India's Jammu and Kashmir state last year, said a prosecution lawyer.

The case sparked outrage and criticism of the country's ruling party after some of its members opposed charges being laid.

The girl, from a nomadic Muslim community that roams the forests of Kashmir, was drugged, held captive in a temple and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone in January 2018.

The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a plan to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, the 15-page charge sheet said.

Among those accused were a Hindu priest and police officers, fanning communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the area.

"This is a victory of truth," prosecution lawyer M. Farooqi told reporters outside the court. "The girl and her family has got justice today. We are satisfied with the judgment."

The prosecution was seeking the death penalty for three men - priest Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar - who were convicted of rape and murder, he said.

The three others, Surinder Kumar, Tilak Raj and Anand Dutta, were convicted of lesser crimes of destroying evidence. A lawyer leading the legal team representing the accused, Mr AK Sawhney, told reporters they planned to appeal the verdict. The case shocked India, which has an appalling record for violence against women and girls, and led to the introduction of the death penalty for rapists of girls below the age of 12. The trial, held in private, began over a year ago in Pathankot, a town about 70km from Rasana village in Kathua district, where the incident happened, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. India's Supreme Court shifted the trial to the neighbouring state of Punjab after the girl's family and lawyer said they faced death threats, and local lawyers and Hindu politicians, including some from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, held protests against police filing charges in court. India has long been plagued by violence against women and children. Reported rapes climbed 60 per cent to 40,000 from 2012 to 2016, according to government statistics, and many more go unreported, especially in rural areas. In total, there are eight people accused of involvement in the case. The seventh man, named as Vishal, was found not guilty on Monday, Mr Farooqi said, while the eighth, a juvenile, is currently awaiting trial. </s> PATHANKOT, India: Six men were convicted on Monday (Jun 10) over the gang rape and murder in India of a young girl from a Muslim nomadic tribe that provoked horror and stoked inter-religious tensions.

The six men from the Jammu region of northern India escaped the death sentence, however, with three defendants given life imprisonment and the others five years in jail.



Sexual violence, including against children, is rife in India and outrage over the so-called Kathua case contributed to the government imposing the death penalty for child rapists.

According to the charge sheet, the girl was abducted while she was out grazing horses and taken to a village in Jammu, the Hindu-dominated part of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, on Jan 10 2018.



In an ordeal lasting five days, she was sedated and held in a Hindu temple, raped repeatedly over five days and then strangled and bludgeoned to death.

Investigations suggested that the girl was targeted in order to strike fear in her nomad community and drive them out of the area.

On Monday a seventh man was acquitted while an eighth person, who claims to be underage, faces a separate trial.

Among the three convicted for rape and murder and sentenced to life were village head Sanjhi Ram and special police officer Deepak Khajuria. The others were found guilty of taking bribes and destroying evidence.

Prosecutors said that they would study the verdict before deciding whether to appeal. The family, who were not present at the trial, had hoped that all six would be given the death sentences, prosecutors said.​​​​​​​



India has the death penalty for the most brutal murders and terror attacks. The last execution happened in 2015 over bombings in Mumbai in 1993.

The Kathua case sparked two days of violent protests in Jammu and demonstrations in several other places across India, including in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also drew flak after two of its members participated in rallies in support of the accused.

The protests were reminiscent of those that followed the fatal gang rape of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012 that made headlines around the world.

The Supreme Court had shifted the Kathua trial to Punjab after the girl's family and their lawyer complained of death threats.

Sexual violence, including against children, remains unabated in India. Nearly 20,000 child rape cases were reported in 2016, according to official data, while a 2014 UN report said one in three rape victims was a minor.



On Monday, hundreds of police were on duty in Pathankot for the trial. Wary of new protests, security was also heavy in Kathua town and surrounding Muslim areas. </s> Father of a woman, who has alleged she was raped by a BJP MLA and his accomplices in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly died in police custody, ANI reported today. The woman (18) and her family had attempted suicide outside the chief minister’s residence in Lucknow on Sunday. Her father was arrested afterwards.

Dr Atul of Unnao district hospital told the news agency that the woman’s father was admitted to hospital on Sunday night by police after he complained of abdominal pain and vomiting. He passed in the early morning hours on Monday, the doctor said.

“He (woman’s father) was admitted to hospital last night by Police after he complained of abdominal pain and vomiting. He passed away in early morning hours,” ANI quoted the doctor as saying.

The woman alleged that was raped by about Kuldeep Singh Sengar, BJP MLA from Bangermau constituency in district Unnao, and his accomplishes in June 2017, according to PTI.

The woman had told ANI, “I was raped. I have been going from pillar to post for one year but no one listened to me. I want all of them arrested otherwise I will kill myself. I had even gone to the CM to no result. When we lodged FIR we were threatened: Woman allegedly raped by BJP MLA.”

The Bangermau constituency is around 90 kilometer from Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.

The woman further alleged that the Unnao police had refused to take any action against the MLA and register her complaint.

On Sunday, the woman tried to immolate herself outside the Golf Club gate of chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence in Lucknow. The immolation bid was, however, foiled by police and the woman was made to appear before Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Lucknow Zone, Rajiv Krishan.

ADJ Lucknow said the woman had alleged she was raped by the MLA but police found that both parties were in a dispute for last 10-12 years.

Reacting to allegations against himk, the BJP MLA had said, “This is a pre-planned incident. There was an incident in their family, case was registered. Police saved two innocent people, being made scapegoat by them.”

“These people thought I helped them & they haven’t left any platform to defame me. I request administration to probe this well & punish the real culprit,” the MLA added. </s> Children take part in a protest against the rape of an eight-year-old girl, in Kathua, near Jammu and a teenager in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh state Thomson Reuters By Fayaz Bukhari

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Eight men accused of involvement in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in India's Jammu and Kashmir state appeared in court on Monday for the first hearing in a case that sparked nationwide outrage and criticism of the ruling party.

Disgust over the horrific crime led to protests in cities across India over the past few days, with anger fueled by support for the accused initially shown by ministers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

The protests have also focused on another rape incident allegedly involving a BJP lawmaker in the crime-ridden, most populous, poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

More rallies demanding action against rapists and violence against women were expected on Monday in the capital and Ahmedabad, the state capital of Modi's home state of Gujarat.

The girl from a nomadic community that roam the forests of Kashmir was drugged, held captive in a temple and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered with a stone in January, the police said.

According to the charge sheet the kidnapping, rape and killing of the girl was part of a plan to drive the nomads out of Kathua district in Jammu, the mostly Hindu portion of India's only Muslim majority state.

The alleged ringleader, retired bureaucrat Sanji Ram, looked after a small Hindu temple where the girl had been held captive and assaulted. Two of the eight on trial were police officers who are accused of being bribed to stifle the investigation.

After the initial hearing on Monday, the judge adjourned the case until April 28.

Ahead of the trial, the lawyer representing the family of the victim said she had been threatened with rape and death for taking up her case, and requested for the trial to be held outside Jammu and Kashmir.

"I was threatened yesterday that 'we will not forgive you'. I am going to tell Supreme Court that I am in danger," said lawyer Deepika Singh Rawat who has fought for a proper investigation since the girl's body was found in January.

It was only when the charge sheet was finally filed last week, giving details of the horrendous crime, that Indians reacted en masse.

Two ministers from the BJP, which shares power in Jammu and Kashmir, were forced to resign after being pilloried for joining a rally in support of the accused men.

The national outrage over the Kathua case has drawn parallels with the massive protests that followed the gang rape and murder of a girl on a Delhi bus in 2012, which forced the then Congress-led government to enact tough new rape laws including the death penalty.

But activists say crimes of violence against women are often inadequately investigated, and in some cases accused with political connections have been protected. More incidents of child rape, including one in Surat in Gujurat, were reported over the weekend.

On Friday, Modi assured the country that the guilty would not be shielded, but he has been criticized for failing to speak out sooner.

Before leaving for an official visit to Europe this week, Modi received a letter from 50 former civil servants upbraiding the country's political leadership over its weak response.

"The bestiality and the barbarity involved in the rape and murder of an eight year old child shows the depths of depravity that we have sunk into," the letter said.

"In post-Independence India, this is our darkest hour and we find the response of our government, the leaders of our political parties inadequate and feeble." </s> New Delhi (CNN) Four men convicted of a gang rape that shocked India and attracted worldwide attention will be executed.

India's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to sentence the men to death.

The judgment met with applause in the courtroom, according to CNN affiliate News18.

"We are very happy that (the) Supreme Court has heard our voice, and that they understood Nirbhaya's pain in this matter, and that along with Nirbhaya the whole country has found justice," the victim's father, Badrinath Singh, told reporters outside the court, using a nickname for his daughter that means "fearless one."

"We need to work so that the type of crime that happened to Nirbhaya will not happen again," Asha Singh, the victim's mother, said at a press briefing.

"This fight is not ours alone. This is every man's fight. This is everyone's fight. This is every woman's fight."

The case led to protests across India and intense media coverage around the world, shining a light on India's pervasive problem of sexual violence against women.

On the evening of December 16, 2012, Jyoti Singh Pandey, a physiotherapy student in Delhi, was leaving a movie theater after watching "The Life of Pi" with a male friend.

According to police, the bus driver and at least five other men were drunk and looking for a "joy ride."

Police said the men took turns raping the woman, using an iron rod to violate her as the bus drove around the city for almost an hour. Her male companion was beaten as he tried to fight them off. When they had finished, the men dumped their two victims by the side of the road.

Following the ordeal, the woman's injuries were so severe some internal organs had to be removed. She died two weeks later at a hospital in Singapore.

"I want them burned alive," the dying victim told her mother and a visiting magistrate who was recording her statement at the hospital.

In the days following the rape, police arrested and jailed six men. Thousands of Indians marched in protest at the crime across the nation's capital and in cities around the country.

But justice has not been a straight and easy path.

Though the case sparked widespread calls for reform in India, according to government records, there was an increase of 50% in the number of reported rapes in the past five years, to 34,000 in 2015.

Experts said the increase was likely caused by a broadening of the definition of what constitutes rape, and more openness about reporting attacks. However, many warn the figures are still likely an underestimation.

The Delhi gang rape case was an outlier in that the victim did not know the perpetrators. Of reported rapes, according to official statistics, 95% were committed by someone known to the victim.

"There hasn't been the push needed to implement these laws at the state level," Aruna Kashyap, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch, told CNN in January.

"The overall response to women's safety is rooted in protectionism -- keep them at home, keep them safe -- rather than create spaces that are safe and equal."
A day after a woman and her family tried to burn themselves in protest alleging she was raped by a local official and her husband murdered whilst in custody, six policemen are arrested in Unnao, India.