BJP MLA imprisoned for 25 years in rape case disqualified from Uttar Pradesh assembly

Official sources announced on Saturday that BJP MLA Ramdular Gond, who was recently found guilty of raping a girl nine years ago and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment, is no longer eligible to serve in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.

A legislator serving a two-year or longer prison sentence is barred from office “from the date of such conviction” and is barred from office for an additional six years following their release, per the Representation of the People Act.

Gond was also fined Rs 10 lakh by Ahsan Ullah Khan, the additional district and sessions judge of the MP-MLA court in Sonbhadra. The eight-year-old girl’s mother and the now-married rape survivor would receive the entire amount.

The court found the MLA from the Duddhi seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, guilty on December 12 and declared the extent of the punishment three days later, according to Special Public Prosecutor Satyaprakash Tripathi.

As per PTI, the rape 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.

According to Tripathi, at the time of incident, Gond was not an MLA, and his wife was a gram pradhan.

Following Gond’s election as a lawmaker, the case was moved from the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO Act) court to the MP-MLA court.

Also Read: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah announces to lift Hijab ban, BJP reacts