BSP MLA and former Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Sen and two others were on May 17 sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court for murdering a Dalit girl student four years ago. Pronouncing the verdict, Judge Matambar Singh also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 each on the MLA and his driver Vijay Sen and Rs 15,000 on Seema Azad, an associate of the legislator.
The Dalit girl Shashi, a law student in Faizabad, went missing in October 2007. Her father Yogender Prasad alleged that the then BSP minister Anand Sen had abducted and killed his daughter. Anand Sen was also accused of having an affair with Shashi and was pressuring her to marry him. The body of Shashi had not been recovered and the court delivered the verdict based on testimonies of the witnesses, a prosecution counsel said.