New Delhi, Dec 16 (AFP/APP): A former ruling party lawmaker was convicted Monday of raping a teenager in a high-profile case that underscored India’s rampant sexual violence and the impunity enjoyed by the elite. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a powerful four-time state legislator for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was found guilty of raping the-then 17-year-old at his home in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, lawyers said. Sentencing will be announced later this week. The verdict came amid renewed public anger about sexual assaults in India and the failures of the overloaded criminal justice system in tackling such crimes. Early this month, four rape-murder suspects were killed in what police claimed was a “shootout” in the southern city of Hyderabad, and a woman died after her alleged attackers set her on fire en route to court in Uttar Pradesh state. It also falls on the anniversary of the brutal 2012 gang rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi that triggered nationwide protests and international outrage. Sengar, who was expelled from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP in August, broke down in tears as the verdict was announced in the district court in New Delhi. Judge Dharmesh Sharma said the … Continue reading India court convicts former ruling lawmaker of teen rape