New Delhi, 27 April (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has scheduled hearings in May for the appeal filed by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, challenging the trial court’s 10‑year sentence in the case of the custodial death of the father of an Unnao rape survivor. A Bench of Justice Swarnakanta Sharma has fixed May 15, 18, 19 and 20 for hearing Sengar’s arguments against the conviction and jail term awarded by the Tis Hazari trial court.

On December 16, 2019, the Tis Hazari court in Delhi had convicted Kuldeep Singh Sengar and six others and sentenced them to 10 years’ imprisonment each in the case of the custodial death of the rape victim’s father, along with a fine of 10 lakh rupees per accused. The incident traces back to June 4, 2017, when the minor daughter of the deceased lodged a rape complaint against Sengar. After the complaint, Sengar’s brother Atul Singh and his associates severely assaulted the victim’s father and handed him over to the police.

The father was shifted to jail on April 9, 2018, and died at the district hospital a few hours later. The Tis Hazari court held Sengar and the co‑accused responsible for the custodial death, finding that the attack and the forced arrest were part of a conspiracy to suppress the rape case. Later, on December 20, 2019, the same court sentenced Sengar to life imprisonment in the main 2017 Unnao rape case and imposed a 25‑lakh‑rupee fine, directing 10 lakh to be paid to the survivor.

In a separate petition, the rape survivor had sought enhancement of Sengar’s 10‑year sentence in her father’s death case, but on April 20, 2026 a Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja dismissed that plea, noting that the survivor had delayed filing the application by 1,945 days and could not show sufficient cause for condonation under the Limitation Act.

Earlier, on January 19, 2026, another Bench headed by Justice Ravinder Dudeja had rejected Sengar’s plea to suspend the 10‑year sentence, observing that he had already spent about seven and a half years in custody and that the challenge to the December 16, 2019 conviction order had been delayed because Sengar himself had filed multiple other applications and petitions in the same set of matters.

The current appeal fixed for May 15, 18, 19 and 20 is Sengar’s challenge to the trial court’s verdict and sentence in the custodial‑death case, and the Delhi High Court is now hearing it under the Supreme Court’s earlier direction that such appeals in the Unnao cases be disposed of within three months. The Bench has allowed the matter to be listed for day‑to‑day final arguments so that the appeal can be decided on the basis of the existing trial record, without either side being allowed to add fresh evidence.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar