Today, On 23rd December, The Delhi High Court granted bail to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former legislator from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a strict condition stating, “Not To Come Within 5 Km Radius Of The Victim,” and directed him to stay in Delhi during the bail period.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court granted bail to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former legislator from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in connection with the 2017 Unnao rape case.
A bench comprising Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidynathan Shankar suspended Sengar’s sentence while he appeals his conviction.
As part of the bail conditions, the High Court mandated that Sengar must stay outside a 5-kilometer radius from the victim’s location and remain in Delhi for the duration of his bail.
He is required to report to the police every Monday.
The Court ordered,
“Violation of any condition would lead to cancellation of bail,”
His appeal challenges the trial court’s ruling, which convicted him for the rape of a 17-year-old girl and sentenced him to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs.25 lakh.
The Court previously granted Kuldeep Singh Sengar temporary bail for a surgery scheduled on January 24. However, since the procedure could not be performed that day, he returned to jail and subsequently sought another court appearance.
Sengar surrendered to theTihar Jail authorities on January 20, following the expiration of his medical bail. He was convicted in the Unnao rape case in 2019, which involved a minor who was kidnapped and raped between June 11 and June 20, 2017.
The victim was sold for Rs. 60,000 and later recovered at the Maakhi police station in Unnao. During this time, she faced ongoing threats from police officials, allegedly acting under Sengar’s instructions.
After numerous attempts to seek justice, a rape case was finally registered in 2018. A trial court in Delhi found Sengar guilty of the crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2019.
The case pertains to the kidnapping and rape of a minor girl by Sengar in 2017.
Additionally, on March 13, 2020, the trial court sentenced Sengar to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs. 10 lakh, in the case related to the death of the rape victim’s father while in custody. The trial court emphasized that no leniency could be shown, given that the victim’s father was the sole breadwinner of the family.
In addition to Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s conviction, the trial court also awarded 10 years of imprisonment to Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh Sengar, and five other individuals for their role in the custodial killing of the rape victim’s father.
The rape victim’s father arrested on the orders of Sengar under the Arms Act. He subsequently died in custody on April 9, 2018, due to police brutality. Although the trial court did not find the accused guilty of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), it awarded the maximum sentence for the offense of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304 of the IPC. The court noted that, no intention to kill on the part of the accused.
The case originally being heard in a trial court in Uttar Pradesh but later transferred to Delhi, on the directions of the Supreme Court, on August 1, 2019.
Case Title:Kuldeep Singh Sengar v Central Bureau of Investigation and Anr
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