A 3-judge Bench of the Supreme Court is set to review the Central Bureau of Investigation’s challenge to the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend the life sentence and grant bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case. The vacation bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih, will address the matter on Monday, as per the apex court’s causelist. The CBI has appealed the Delhi High Court’s December 23 ruling that allowed Sengar’s plea for suspension of sentence pending his appeal.
The CBI and the victim’s family had expressed their intention to contest the Delhi High Court’s ruling in the Supreme Court. Family members of the survivor, joined by women’s rights activists, have voiced their opposition to Sengar’s sentence suspension, citing concerns about public trust and the message it sends regarding crimes against women. The CBI had vehemently objected to Sengar’s plea in the Delhi High Court, emphasizing the seriousness of the crime and associated risks.
In a decision, a division bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar suspended Sengar’s life sentence and granted him conditional bail during the appeal process, subject to stringent terms. The Unnao rape case had sparked widespread public outcry. In 2019, a trial court in Delhi found Sengar guilty of abducting and raping a minor girl, sentencing him to life imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 25 lakh. The Supreme Court had earlier shifted all related cases from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, mandating a day-to-day trial.
