Ramdulare Gond is a tribal MLA from the Duddhi Assembly constituency.
Nine years after he was accused of raping a minor, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh has been sentenced to 25 years in jail and now faces disqualification from the Assembly. The crime took place in 2014 and the survivor's brother said the MLA had pressured and threatened the family for over a year after the complaint was filed.
Ramdulare Gond, a tribal MLA from the Duddhi Assembly constituency in Sonbhadra district, was sentenced to 25 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10 lakh by an MP-MLA court on Friday.
In 2014, Gond's wife was the head of a village panchayat in the Duddhi constituency. Gond, who was a local strongman, was trying to make it big in politics by leveraging his wife's position. Gond raped the girl on November 4, 2014, and a complaint was registered at the Myorpur police station.
Gond won the Assembly election from the Duddhi constituency on a BJP ticket last year and his case was transferred to the MP-MLA court in Sonbhadra, which pronounced him guilty on Tuesday.
Public prosecutor Satya Prakash Tripathi said, "MLA Ramdulare Gond had been convicted in the case, which was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act as well as sections pertaining to rape and destroying evidence of the Indian Penal Code."
"Ahsan Ullah Khan, the additional district and sessions judge of the MP-MLA court, has sentenced the MLA to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh. The amount will be given to the survivor," he added.
The survivor's family said it took them a long time to get justice but they are happy with the verdict. Her brother said Ramdulare Gond threatened him and his family for a year to get them to withdraw the case.
Gond will now be disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and while it won't affect the BJP in terms of numbers because it has 254 members in the 403-strong house, it will leave the party vulnerable to attacks from the opposition.
As per 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 six years after serving time.