A court here on Friday sentenced BJP MLA Ramdular Gond to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for the rape of a girl nine years ago, setting the stage for his disqualification from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

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.

Ahsan Ullah Khan, the additional district and session judge of the MP-MLA court in Sonbhadra, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Gond which would be used for the rape survivor's rehabilitation.

Special Public Prosecutor Satyaprakash Tripathi said the court held the MLA from Duddhi assembly constituency guilty on December 12.

Before the pronouncement of the verdict, Gond's lawyer urged the court for minimum punishment. He also assured the court that Gond would take complete care of the family of the rape survivor.

Giving detail of the case, Tripathi said the incident took place on November 4, 2014, and a case was registered against Gond under sections 376 (rape), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 5L/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

His wife was the gram pradhan at the time of the incident, he added.

The Myorpur Police had registered a case against Gond on the complaint of the victim's brother.

Gond was not an MLA at that time and the trial of the case was going on in the POCSO court. After he was elected MLA, the files were transferred to the MP-MLA court.

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