25 December,2025 04:05 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Kuldeep Sengar will remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence in connection with the custodial death of the victim’s father. Pic/PTI
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the Delhi High Court's (HC's) order suspending the jail term of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, news agency PTI reported.
The plea, filed by advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar, seeks a stay on HC's order. They argued that the court passed the order without considering the trial court's observation that Sengar must remain in jail for the rest of his natural life.
"The High Court failed to appreciate the material evidence relied upon by the prosecution which clearly demonstrates the barbarity and brutality of the accused, coupled with his demonstrated muscle power, financial influence and criminal propensity, as evidenced from the fact that even while the victim's father was under judicial custody, the accused orchestrated and executed victim's father murder to silence the family and frustrate the due course of justice," the plea said, according to PTI.
The petitioners added that HC committed a "grave error in law as well as on facts" by granting suspension of sentence to Sengar despite his serious criminal record and proven involvement in heinous offences of rape.
On Tuesday, the Delhi HC suspended Sengar's jail term, noting that he had already served seven years and five months in prison. The suspension will remain in effect during the pendency of his appeal challenging the conviction and sentence in the rape case. Sengar had challenged the December 2019 trial court verdict.
However, he will remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence in connection with the custodial death of the victim's father and has not been granted bail in that case, PTI reported.
HC directed Sengar, who kidnapped and raped the survivor when she was a minor, to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the same amount. It also imposed restrictions, barring him from coming within 5 km of the survivor's residence in Delhi and from threatening her or her mother. The court warned that any violation of these conditions would result in the cancellation of his bail.
The Unnao rape case and other related cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the apex court's directions on August 1, 2019.
Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the custodial death case of the survivor's father is also pending, in which he has sought suspension of sentence, citing the time he has already spent in prison.
(With PTI inputs)
