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Ruling party sacks lawmaker as court fast-tracks abuse case

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New Delhi: A lawmaker accused of raping a teenage woman and threatening her family has been expelled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as India’s top court ordered a fast-track rape trial as well as protection and compensation for the victim.


Kuldeep Sengar, a member of the assembly of Uttar Pradesh state, was sacked just days after the rape victim and her lawyer were critically wounded and two of her relatives killed in a car crash involving a speeding truck.


The 19-year-old woman and lawyer were in critical condition but stable, according to doctors of the hospital in state capital Lucknow. The woman’s family and opposition parties have alleged that Sunday’s crash was a deliberate attempt on her life by Sengar.


The case has prompted widespread anger in the country. A federal murder investigation has been opened into the crash and the allegations against Sengar brought by the family.


BJP spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao said Sengar had been expelled as the party had a “zero tolerance” policy towards members who face serious allegations, the state-run broadcaster Doordarshan News reported.


Opposition parties and activists staged protests over the case and pressure had been mounting on BJP to act.


Critics see the BJP’s decision on Thursday as belated, since the criminal case against Sengar has dragged on for more than a year. There have been allegations that he was being shielded by ruling party politicians.


Sengar was charged under India’s strict child protection laws in 2017 as the woman was a minor when she was attacked. He is currently in jail awaiting trial.


Shortly after the BJP’s move, the Supreme Court ordered that the murder probe into the car crash be completed in seven days time. It also ordered the rape trial moved out of Sengar’s home state of Uttar Pradesh and mandated that the trial, which will now be handed to a court in New Delhi, be completed 45 days after its commencement.


The court, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, ordered immediate protections for the young woman and her family by the federal paramilitary police. It also ordered an “interim compensation” of 2.5 million rupees ($36,000) for the family, the family’s lawyer D Ramakrishna Reddy said.


Further, the court ordered that five cases linked to the rape case, including the car crash investigation, be transferred out of Uttar Pradesh to New Delhi.


The directions came after the Supreme Court looked into a letter by the young woman and her family in July, claiming there was intense pressure to withdraw the rape case and that they had received threats to their lives from Sengar and his associates.


The top court posted the next hearing in the case for Friday. — dpa


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