Unnao rape case: Plea in Supreme Court challenges Sengar’s bail

A Supreme Court plea challenges the Delhi High Court’s suspension of Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s jail term in the 2017 Unnao rape case, citing his criminal antecedents and involvement in the custodial death of the survivor’s father, and seeks a stay on the order

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court order suspending the jail term of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.

The petition filed by advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar has sought a stay on the High Court order.

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They contended that the HC passed the order without considering that the trial court observed that Sengar must remain in jail for the rest of his natural life.

The HC has committed a grave error in law as well as on facts in granting bail/suspension of sentence to Sengar despite his serious criminal antecedents and his established involvement in the heinous offences of rape, they said.

“The High Court failed to appreciate the material evidence relied upon by the prosecution which clearly demonstrates the barbarity and brutality of the accused, coupled with his demonstrated muscle power, financial influence and criminal propensity, as evidenced from the fact that even while the victim’s father was under judicial custody, the accused orchestrated and executed victim’s father murder to silence the family and frustrate the due course of justice,” the plea said.

On December 23, the HC suspended the jail term of Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case, saying he has already served seven years and five months in prison.

Sengar’s sentence has been suspended by the high court till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case. He has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the case.

He will, however, remain in jail since he is also serving 10 years’ imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim’s father and has not been granted bail in that case.

Imposing several conditions, the HC directed Sengar, who kidnapped and raped the survivor when she was a minor, to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the like amount.

It also directed him not to come within a 5-km radius of the survivor’s residence in Delhi and not to threaten her or her mother. Violation of any of the conditions would lead to the cancellation of bail, the HC said.

The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.

Sengar’s appeal against his conviction in the case of the custodial death of the survivor’s father is also pending, where he has sought suspension of sentence on the ground that he has already spent a substantial time in jail.