New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday granted interim bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is serving life term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017, to enable him to attend the wedding of his daughter.
A bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Poonam A Bamba suspended the sentence from January 27 to February 10 and asked Sengar to furnish two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each and report to the SHO concerned on a daily basis during this period.
Sengar, represented by senior advocates N Hariharan and P K Dubey and lawyer Kanhaiya Singhal, informed the court the wedding rituals and ceremonies will be held in Gorakhpur and Lucknow, and being the only male family member, he has to make the arrangements.
Meanwhile, a similar plea by Sengar was listed before Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma in a separate case in which he has been serving 10 years imprisonment for the death of Unnao rape victim’s father in custody.
As advocate Mehmood Pracha, appearing for the complainant, submitted that he was not served with the application for interim release, the court asked Sengar’s lawyer to supply the copy and listed it for hearing on January 19.
Sengar’s lawyer apprised the single judge about the order passed by the division bench and said they are yet to get the order copy.
Sengar had earlier informed the court that the wedding was scheduled for February 8.
The counsel for the CBI said a status report has been filed by the agency and it was found that two halls have been booked for the wedding ceremonies.
Sengar’s appeal challenging the trial court’s verdict in the Unnao rape case is already pending in the high court.
He has sought quashing of the December 16, 2019 judgement of the trial court which convicted him. Sengar has also sought setting aside of the December 20, 2019 order sentencing him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
The trial court had convicted Sengar under various provisions, including section 376 (2) of the IPC which deals with the offence of rape committed by a public servant who takes advantage of his official position and commits rape on a woman in his custody as such public servant or in the custody of a public servant subordinate to him.
It had awarded him the maximum punishment of life term with a rider that the convict will remain in jail for the “remainder of his natural biological life” and also imposed on him a fine of Rs 25 lakh.
The girl was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh in the case of death of the rape victim’s father in custody. The trial court had said “no leniency” can be shown for killing a family’s “sole bread earner”.
It had also awarded 10-year jail term to Sengar’s brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others for their role in the custodial killing of the father of the rape victim.
The father of the rape victim was arrested at the behest of Sengar in a case under Arms Act and had died in custody on April 9, 2018 owing police brutality.
The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty of murder, awarded the maximum sentence for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to convicts under section 304 of the IPC after holding there was no intention to kill.
The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
The apex court, taking cognisance of the rape survivor’s letter written to the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had on August 1, 2019 transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court to the court in Delhi with directions to hold the trial on a daily basis and complete it within 45 days.
