Today, On 15th May, The Supreme Court of India set aside a Delhi High Court order staying the sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, noting “We don’t endorse the hypertechnical view adopted by the High Court,” Justice Bagchi said today.
The Supreme Court set-aside a Delhi High Court order that had temporarily stayed the jail sentence of former BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also directed the Delhi High Court to decide Sengar’s appeal against his conviction without delay, preferably within two months.
The Court further instructed that if the appeal is not heard soon, the High Court should revisit Sengar’s request for suspension of his jail sentence.
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The Supreme Court passed the decision while allowing an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had challenged the High Court’s order suspending Sengar’s sentence and permitting his release on bail during the pendency of his appeal against the rape conviction.
The Court ordered,
“We allow the appeal. Set aside the impugned order. High Court shall make an endeavour to decide the main appeal within two months. In case appeal not likely to be heard, let a fresh order be passed concerning the application for suspension of sentence. No opinion expressed in merits. Nor the application for suspension of sentence be influenced by order of this Court. Let appropriate orders be passed preferably before commencement of summer vacations,”
During the proceedings, the Supreme Court also criticized the Delhi High Court’s earlier prima facie observation that the charge of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was not established against Sengar.
Under the POCSO framework, penetrative sexual assault is treated as aggravated penetrative sexual assault if it is committed by a public servant.
The High Court, while granting bail/suspension of sentence, had reasoned that Sengar could not be strictly regarded as a public servant or as someone in a position of trust or authority for the purpose of aggravated penetrative sexual assault an assessment that formed one of the key grounds for suspending his sentence.
The Supreme Court expressed its disagreement with that reasoning.
Justice Bagchi said,
“We do not endorse the hyper-technical conclusion of the High Court. This is a penal legislation which protects children from sexual exploitation,”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta added,
“MLA is in a dominant position,”
Meanwhile, Sengar’s counsel, Senior Advocate N Hariharan, questioned whether the POCSO Act should apply at all.
Hariharan told the Court,
“I am in the position to show that the prosecutrix is not a minor. The AIIMS board says she was not a minor. All reports are in his favour still he is in jail,”
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The Unnao rape case involved former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was accused in 2017 of raping a minor after luring her with a job promise. The survivor initially faced difficulty in getting an FIR registered, allegedly due to political influence. The matter gained national attention in April 2018 when she attempted self-immolation outside the Chief Minister’s residence, highlighting police inaction.
Around the same time, her father was arrested following a complaint by Sengar’s associate, which the survivor claimed was done to intimidate the family. He died in custody on April 9, 2018, with reports indicating multiple injuries, raising concerns of custodial violence.
The case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which registered multiple charges including rape and custodial death.
In 2019, a suspicious road accident injured the survivor and her lawyer, prompting Supreme Court intervention and transfer of the trial to Delhi. In December 2019, Sengar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and 10 years for the custodial death case, exposing serious issues of abuse of power and police complicity.
Kuldeep Sengar was convicted of raping the minor survivor and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life on December 20, 2019. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.
Earlier, On March 13, 2020, Kuldeep Sengar and his brother Jaideep Sengar alias Atul Singh were sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment by the trial court in the custodial death case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh.
The survivor’s father had been arrested under the Arms Act at the alleged behest of the accused and died in custody on April 9, 2018, due to police brutality, as alleged. The trial court had said “no leniency” could be shown for killing a family’s sole bread earner”.
However, the trial court did not convict the accused for murder under the IPC. Instead, it awarded the maximum sentence of 10 years for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC, after holding there was no intention to kill.
The case was transferred to Delhi from the trial court in Uttar Pradesh following directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
Case Title: MS A S Vs CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION & ORS. CRL.A. 1602/2025
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