UP BJP MLA Ramdular Gond sentenced to 25 years in rape case

mangaloretoday.com

Lucknow, Dec 15, 2023: BJP MLA Ramdular Gond faces the prospect of losing his UP Assembly membership after receiving a sentence of 25 years for raping a minor girl. Gond is an MLA from the Duddhi seat in Sonbhadra district.

 

A local court in Sonbhadra pronounced the judgment Friday, two days after holding first-time MLA Gond guilty in the rape case.

“On Friday, MLA Ramdular was brought to the court amid tight police security. The court sentenced him to 25 years and also imposed a fine of Rs 10.5 lakh. The court has directed to give the entire fine money to the victim,” said Special Public Prosecutor (Sonbhadra) Satya Prakash Tripathi.

The court had held the MLA guilty under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information), and some sections of the POCSO Act.

According to the prosecution, Gond tried to sexually assault the minor girl when she had gone to a nearby field to answer nature’s call on the evening of November 4, 2014. On returning home, the girl informed her elder brother about her ordeal. “The victim also told her brother that Ramdular Gond had raped her several times in the past one year by threatening her,” victim’s lawyer Vikas Shakya said.

During the trial, the prosecution claimed the victim was born in 1998, while the MLA produced school documents claiming she was born in 1994, said Tripathi.

Gond’s lawyer Ram Briksh Tiwari said they would file an appeal against the judgment.

Gond defeated his closest rival Samajwadi Party candidate Vijay Singh in the last Assembly elections.

Courtesy: Indian Express