New Delhi, 27 December (H.S.): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s order that suspended the life imprisonment of former MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the high-profile Unnao rape case.
The Delhi High Court, on December 23, had granted Sengar bail and stayed the execution of his life sentence awarded by the trial court. A bench led by Justice Subramonium Prasad directed that the sentence remain suspended while Sengar’s appeal against the conviction was pending before the court.
As part of the bail conditions, the court mandated that Sengar must remain within the national capital during the bail period and stay at least five kilometers away from the victim’s residence.The order followed the December 16, 2019 judgment of the Tis Hazari Court, which had sentenced Sengar to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10 lakh in the case related to the custodial death of the rape victim’s father.
The court had awarded the same punishment to six other accused, including Sengar’s brother Atul Singh, holding them guilty of assaulting the victim’s father before his arrest.
According to the CBI’s charges, the incident dates back to April 9, 2018, when the father of the rape survivor died in judicial custody after being brutally beaten by Sengar’s brother and associates. The crime was allegedly an act of retaliation after the survivor lodged a rape complaint against Kuldeep Sengar on June 4, 2017. The assaulted man was taken into police custody and died within hours of being transferred to the district hospital.
In a separate case related to the 2017 rape, the Tis Hazari Court on December 20, 2019, had convicted the expelled BJP legislator Kuldeep Sengar and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court had also imposed a fine of ₹25 lakh, out of which ₹10 lakh was directed to be paid to the victim as compensation.Sengar has filed appeals in both cases before the Delhi High Court.
The CBI’s latest plea in the Supreme Court seeks annulment of the High Court’s relief order, arguing that the suspension of his sentence undermines the gravity of the offences proved by the trial court.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
