Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 29: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court order suspending life sentence of the expelled BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar convicted in the 2017 Unnao rape of then a minor girl and granted him conditional bail.
Despite the conditional bail, Sengar would still have remained in prison because he is serving a concurrent sentence over the custodial death of the survivor’s father.
The Bench, comprising of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George, said, “…In view of peculiar facts where convict is convicted for a separate offence, we stay operation of Delhi high court order dated December 23, 2025. Thus respondent (Sengar) shall not be released pursuant to the said order.” The bench also said there was ambiguity on the definition of ‘public servant’ under the POCSO Act and also issued a notice to Sengar on the CBI’s plea challenging the order that suspended his life sentence.
On December 23, the Delhi High Court had put Sengar’s jail sentence on hold while his appeal was pending, saying that he has already spent seven years and five months in prison, and granted him conditional bail. The High Court order was issued on Sengar challenging the December 2019 trial court verdict in the case.
Notably, the high court ruled that Sengar could not be treated as a public servant under Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act or Section 376(2)(b) of the IPC. This led the CBI to move the Supreme Court.
The high court’s order led to massive protests, in which the survivor also joined to demand justice. Sengar was convicted in December 2019 in the Unnao rape case and handed life imprisonment along with a fine of ₹25 lakh.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, argued that Sengar was in a position of dominance and found guilty under POCSO and of killing the victim’s father.
The CJI Surya Kant orally observed the court was tentatively inclined to stay the Delhi High Court order suspending Kuldeep Sengar’s sentence in the Unnao rape case. Mr Mehta had pointed out to the court the Sengar was punished for a term “which not less than 20 years and extend to imprisonment for the remainder of natural life of the convict or with death.” “Fortunately, Sengar was found guilty of killing the victim’s father and has not been able to come out,” Mr Mehta pointed out.
“Sengar was convicted under S. 2376(2)(i) of the erstwhile IPC in 2017. Minimum sentence is 20 years and maximum is imprisonment for the rest of the biological life of the convict. The victim is below 16 years old. It is an aggravated form of rape,” Mr Tushar Mehta argued. The Solicitor General pointed that Kuldeep Singh Sengar was ‘in a position of dominance, whether he was a public servant or not at the time of the crime, as the survivor was a child of less than 16 years old.’
“The maximum sentence would apply in this case. He was also found guilty under the POCSO for penetrative sexual assault,” Mr Mehta says. He also highlighted that Sengar was an MLA of the area, and was very powerful. “The charges (against Sengar) were framed under 376 IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of POCSO Act. Convictions were also under both. The trial court found Sengar guilty beyond doubt and the child was found to be below 16 years old,” Mr Mehta said.
Earlier on Sunday, the survivor said she believed she would receive justice from the Supreme Court. While speaking at a protest organised by the All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA) in the national capital, the Unnao rape survivor alleged that Sengar had paid bribes to officials, including the CBI investigating officer and a Delhi high court judge.
During the protest, the demonstrators shouted slogans against what they called undue leniency shown to the convict, saying the steps taken so far did not meet public expectations. The survivor’s mother said earlier they have faith in the Supreme Court and hope justice would be delivered in the case.
Meanwhile, Sengar’s daughter Aishwarya Sengar on a post on X has said their family has full faith in the judicial process and asked his supporters “not to lose patience”, after the CBI challenged the Delhi High Court order suspending his life sentence in the Unnao rape case. She asked people of Unnao to refrain from resorting to any kind of protest. “I humbly request all the people of Unnao to please refrain from resorting to any kind of protest. You are our family, and in this difficult time, we must not lose patience. We have complete faith in the judicial process. Your restraint and blessings give us strength,” she said.
A former Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju has defended Delhi High Court’s order granting Sengar conditional bail. According to Mr Katju, the rape convict has already spent over eight years in jail, and he cannot be given a life sentence as he was “not a public servant.”
“It is not that Sengar has not spent any time in jail. He has spent more than eight years in jail. Secondly, this order of the high court is an interim order; it is not the final judgment. The case is still pending. And the bench has not gone into the merits of the case, in the sense that it is not considered whether Sengar is guilty of the offence or not, whether that girl was below or above 18. However, what the bench has really said is that the question is whether an MLA is a public servant within the meaning of the POCSO Act,” Mr Katju added.
Explaining the merits of a ‘public servant’, Katju said, “The trial court has held that the MLA is a public servant. But the high court has pointed out that he’s not a public servant under the POCSO Act. The POCSO Act does not define the expression public servant but it mentions that words and expressions not defined in this act will have the same meaning as in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). So, in IPC, a list of people deemed to be public servants is given. MLA is not one of them.” “When he’s not a public servant as defined in the POCSO Act, then you can’t send him to life imprisonment,” he added.
Stressing on the fact that Sengar spent over eight years in jail, Katju questioned, “You know, in India, cases take a long time to decide. Supposing it takes another 10 years to decide, and after 10 years – he’s spent 18 years in jail, and it is found that the judgment from the trial court is wrong, who will restore 18 years of his life?” The former top court judge said that a “balance has to be struck” in the case.
Sengar was convicted in 2019 for kidnapping and raping a minor girl in Unnao and was sentenced to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 25 lakh. He was granted bail last week. However, Sengar would have remained in jail as he is concurrently serving a 10-year sentence after he was found guilty of culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy in the death of the survivor’s father.
The rape convict’s bail triggered massive outrage that even led to clashes in Delhi between central forces tasked with ‘guarding’ the survivor and members of her family. Visuals of the survivor’s mother, seemingly forced to jump from a moving bus that then drove off with her daughter on board, had gone viral. The survivor’s family said that the suspension of Sengar’s sentence had “shaken public faith” and “sent a wrong message on crimes against women.”