Unnao Rape Case: SC to Hear CBI’s Plea Against HC Order Suspending Sengar’s Life Sentence on Dec 29

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a plea filed by the CBI challenging a Delhi High Court order that suspended the life sentence of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case on December 29.

According to the apex court’s cause list, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices J K Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear the matter. In addition to the CBI’s plea, the court will also consider a separate petition filed by advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar challenging the high court’s order.

On December 23, the Delhi High Court suspended Sengar’s life sentence, noting that he had already served seven years and five months in prison. The CBI challenged this order in the Supreme Court on December 26. The high court had suspended the sentence pending Sengar’s appeal against his conviction and sentencing in the case.

Sengar, who was convicted by a trial court in December 2019, remains in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence for the custodial death of the rape survivor’s father.

The high court had imposed several conditions for Sengar’s suspension of sentence, directing him to furnish a personal bond of 15 lakh rupees along with three sureties of the same amount. He was also ordered to stay at least 5 km away from the survivor’s residence in Delhi and refrain from threatening her or her mother. Any violation of these conditions would result in cancellation of the bail.

The Unnao rape case, along with other related cases, was transferred from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi on the Supreme Court’s directions on August 1, 2019. Sengar’s appeal against his conviction in the custodial death case is also pending, in which he has sought suspension of sentence citing the time already served in jail.