For the 2014 rape of a young girl, BJP MLA Ramdular Gond was found guilty and given a 25-year prison sentence. It is possible that he will no longer be an assembly member. Ramdular Gond, a BJP MLA, was found guilty of rape in 2014 in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) case against him resulted in a verdict. Gond, a rookie MLA from the Duddhi constituency, was found guilty of rape in Section 376 and causing the disappearance of evidence in Section 506. Only two days after Gond was found guilty, Special Judge Ahsanullah Khan delivered the verdict, which was a major turn in the legal process.
On Friday, a Sonbhadra court convicted Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramdular Gond of raping a young girl in 2014 and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Gond, an MLA representing the Duddhi seat in the Uttar Pradesh district of Sonbhadra, may soon lose his assembly seat.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a legislator who receives a sentence of two years or longer in prison will lose their eligibility immediately upon conviction and will continue to lose it for an additional six years following their release.
On December 13, the MP-MLA court of Additional District Judge (I) Ahsanullah Khan found Gond guilty of rape in accordance with Indian Penal Code Sections 376 and 506 (causing evidence to disappear and giving false information), as well as several Pocso Act sections.
Ultimately, on Friday, he was given a sentence of 25 years in prison, which included 20 years of hard labor. According to Vikas Shakya, the rape survivor’s attorney, the court also fined the MLA Rs 10 lakh.
Shakya stated in a court order that the victim will receive the full amount of the fine as compensation and for rehabilitation.
Gond was arrested in November 2014 on charges of sexually abusing a young girl who went to the village of Myorpur’s field to relieve herself. Gond’s wife was the gram pradhan during the incident, but he was not an MLA at the time. After Gond was elected as a legislator, the case’s trial was moved from a Pocso court to an MP-MLA court. Prior to the verdict being announced, Gond’s attorney begged the court for the least amount of punishment and gave the court his word that Gond would take full responsibility for the rape survivor’s family.
Gond could now lose his Assembly membership, following in the footsteps of other Uttar Pradeshi lawmakers who have faced comparable consequences in the past. Azam Khan, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, and Vikram Singh Saini, of the BJP, were disqualified in October 2022 due to their criminal convictions, while Kuldeep Singh Sengar was disqualified in February 2020 due to his conviction for rape. The pattern persisted when Afzal Ansari and Abdullah Azam Khan were imprisoned in separate cases earlier this year and in May, respectively, and lost their Assembly memberships as a result.
