Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the jail term of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is serving a life term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017, and granted him bail with several conditions.
A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar barred Sengar from entering a 5km radius of the victim’s home and cautioned him against threatening her or her mother.
He has been asked to report to the police station every Monday and to surrender his passport. He has to furnish a personal bond of ₹15 lakh with three sureties of the same amount. The court also directed him to stay in the national capital during the pendency of his appeal.
“Violation of any condition would lead to the cancellation of bail,” the bench said, posting the matter for January 16.
Sengar’s sentence will remain suspended till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentencing by a Delhi trial court in December 2019.
The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹10 lakh in connection with the custodial death of the rape victim’s father. The court had also awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar’s brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar has also appealed against his conviction in the custodial death case, arguing that he has already spent a substantial time in jail.
Talking to PTI, the Unnao rape case survivor said she was not satisfied with the verdict.
“I have small children. There is an elderly, differently abled mother-in-law and my husband at home. The safety of my children is my biggest concern,” she said.
The survivor alleged that during the course of the trial, her family was repeatedly “forced” to make rounds of the court.
“My uncle’s bail plea was rejected,” she said, questioning why security cover provided to her family members, legal aides and witnesses was withdrawn.
“Usually, the verdict is pronounced within two or three days of the conclusion of arguments. But in this case, the decision came after three months. Even before the verdict, the security cover of the family and the witnesses was withdrawn,” she alleged.
The survivor further said: “In the serious crime where my father was murdered and I was subjected to rape, the accused is granted bail after serving a few years inprison. This raises the question of what kind of justice this is.”