New Delhi, 29 December (H.S.): The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court's order granting bail to former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar by suspending his life sentence in the Unnao rape case. A vacation bench presided over by Chief Justice Suryakant issued the stay, expressing concerns over the High Court's interpretation of Section 5 of the POCSO Act that could potentially exclude public servants from its ambit.
During the hearing, the court questioned how a legislator could be outside the definition of a public servant under the law, noting that even a constable qualifies as one. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, described the case as a horrific rape of a minor girl, with charges framed under IPC Section 376 and POCSO Section 5.
Mehta argued that the High Court suspended the sentence based on Sengar serving over seven years, but post-amendment minimum punishment for rape is now 20 years—though the court observed the amendment came after the incident.
The CBI had challenged the Delhi High Court's December 23 order, where Justice Subramonium Prasad's bench suspended the trial court's sentence pending appeal, directing Sengar to stay in Delhi and remain 5 km away from the victim's residence. No accidents were reported in this legal saga; the focus remains on the brutal chain of events, including the April 9, 2018, custodial death of the victim's father after a savage beating by Sengar's brother Atul Singh and accomplices on June 4, 2017, following the rape FIR.
On December 20, 2019, Tis Hazari Court sentenced Sengar to life imprisonment plus a Rs 25 lakh fine (Rs 10 lakh to the victim) for the rape. In the father's murder case, the same court awarded him and six others 10 years' rigorous imprisonment each with Rs 10 lakh fines on December 16, 2019. Sengar had appealed both verdicts in the High Court.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
