The CBI on Friday challenged in the Supreme Court the Delhi High Court order that suspended the life sentence and granted bail to expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, officials said.
The central probe agency filed a Special Leave Petition in the apex court against the high court order, they added.
“The decision to file the SLP was taken after studying the orders of a division bench of the Delhi High Court in the Unnao rape case of 2017. It was decided to file an SLP before the Supreme Court at the earliest against the orders of the high court, which granted bail to Sengar after suspending his life sentence,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
Sengar, however, will remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year term for the custodial death of the rape survivor's father. The former MLA had filed an appeal against his life sentence, which was opposed by the CBI and the victim’s family before the high court.
“The CBI filed timely replies and written arguments in this matter. The family of the victim has also opposed the petition, citing safety and threats. The CBI will immediately challenge this order,” the statement said.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended Sengar’s jail term, noting he had already served seven years and five months. His sentence was suspended till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case.
Sengar has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict.
The high court bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar imposed several conditions for bail, directing him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the like amount.
The court also instructed Sengar not to come within a 5-km radius of the victim's residence in Delhi and not to issue threats to her or her mother.
Sengar was convicted of kidnapping and raping the girl in 2017 when she was a minor. 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.