Unnao sexual assault case: SC to hear on Monday plea challenging Kuldeep Sengars suspension of life sentence on Monday
On December 23, the Delhi High Court put on hold the life imprisonment awarded to Sengar, an expelled BJP leader, and granted him bail upon furnishing a personal bond of ₹15 lakh along with three sureties of the same amount.
PTC News Desk: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday, December 29, the CBI’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend the life sentence imposed on former Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
The case will be taken up by a vacation bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Augustine George Masih. The Supreme Court is presently on its winter recess and will reopen for regular hearings on January 5.
On December 23, the Delhi High Court put on hold the life imprisonment awarded to Sengar, an expelled BJP leader, and granted him bail upon furnishing a personal bond of ₹15 lakh along with three sureties of the same amount. The court imposed stringent conditions, barring him from entering within a five-kilometre radius of the survivor’s home and from contacting, intimidating or threatening her or her mother. It made clear that any breach of these conditions would result in cancellation of bail.
The high court based its decision on the view that, under the applicable provisions of the POCSO Act, Sengar could not legally be sentenced to life imprisonment due to statutory constraints. While the CBI pressed for a “purposive interpretation” of the law, the bench refused, stating that statutory definitions could not be expanded beyond their clear wording. The court also recorded that the trial court’s 2019 judgment had not been challenged by the survivor and was not effectively supported by the CBI at the relevant time. Later efforts by the survivor’s family to secure conviction under Sections 376(2)(f) and (k) of the IPC were likewise unsuccessful.
A day after the high court’s ruling, the survivor moved the Supreme Court, following her brief detention along with her mother during a protest near Mandi House against the decision.
Addressing security concerns, the Delhi High Court noted that Sengar had already spent over seven years and five months in custody and held that a mere apprehension of threat was insufficient to deny suspension of sentence. It added that the survivor would continue to receive CRPF protection.