A CONVICTED rapist from Burnley, who pounced on his sick teenage victim at a party, has been told it was wrong he was not allowed to vote in a General Election.

Sheraz Bhatti, of Ivy Street, twice raped the 17-year-old, who had been put to bed because she had been on medication and felt ill, when she was virtually insensible.

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Bhatti, then 27, was jailed for seven years and put on the sex offenders register for life at Burnley Crown Court in April 2008.

He was also disqualified from working with children.

He had admitted causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and failing to surrender, at an earlier court hearing.

Bhatti is one of hundreds of serving prisoners who have since been told that their human rights were violated by the fact they were not allowed to vote in various elections.

Bhatti was incarcerated at Wymott Prison in Leyland at the time his case was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights and he was said to have missed out on voting in the 2010 General Election.

Several cases have been brought before the European courts, dating back to 2004 and 2010, which have seen British legislators told that they must reverse domestic laws on prisoner voting.

Parliamentarians have been consulting on a draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill, after a joint committee recom-mended last December that inmates serving less than a year should be entitled to participate in polls.

Lawyers representing Bhatti and hundreds of other prisoners were informed that they were not entitled to any damages, as a result of their claims, with the finding of an alleged human rights violation said to cover the seriouness of the case.

Bhatti’s victim had been taken back to a house in Westgate by friends during a night out, amid suspicions her drink may have been spiked.

She was put to bed full clothed before Bhatti arrived at the house with two other men.

He struck after taking four or five lines of cocaine.