New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) challenge to a Delhi High Court order that suspended the life sentence of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar and granted him bail in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
According to the causelist uploaded on the apex court’s website, the matter will be taken up by a three-judge vacation bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih.
The CBI has approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s December 23 order, which allowed Sengar’s plea for suspension of sentence while his appeal is pending.
Earlier, both the investigating agency and the survivor’s family had indicated that they would challenge the High Court’s decision before the top court. During the hearing in the High Court, the CBI had strongly opposed Sengar’s application, citing the seriousness of the offence and the risks involved in granting him bail.
A division bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar of the Delhi High Court had suspended Sengar’s life term and granted him conditional bail for the duration of his appeal.
The court ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the same amount. It also directed that Sengar must not enter within a five-kilometre radius of the survivor’s residence and must remain in Delhi while on bail. The High Court made it clear that any breach of the conditions would result in cancellation of bail.
The Unnao rape case had sparked nationwide outrage. In December 2019, a trial court convicted Sengar of kidnapping and raping a minor and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, along with a fine of Rs 25 lakh.
The Supreme Court had earlier transferred all cases linked to the incident from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi and ordered a day-to-day trial.
Meanwhile, the survivor’s family and women’s rights activists have protested against the suspension of Sengar’s sentence, stating that the bail order has shaken public confidence and sends a troubling message on crimes against women.
