Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA gets 25-year jail term for girl’s rape

A Sonbhadra court on Friday sentenced Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramdular Gond to 25 years in jail for raping a minor girl in 2014. Gond, an MLA from the Duddhi seat in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, now faces the prospect of losing his assembly membership.

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.

The MP-MLA court of additional district judge (I) Ahsanullah Khan held Gond 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 on December 13.

He was eventually sentenced to 25 years in jail, including 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, on Friday. The court also imposed a ₹10 lakh fine on the MLA, the rape survivor’s counsel Vikas Shakya told reporters.

“The entire amount of the fine will be given to the victim as compensation and for rehabilitation,” Shakya in a court order said.

In November 2014, Gond was booked for sexually assaulting a minor girl when she went to a field in the Myorpur village to relieve herself. Gond was not an MLA at the time of the incident but his wife was the gram pradhan. 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, Gond’s lawyer urged the court for minimum punishment, and assured the court that Gond would take complete care of the family of the rape survivor.