The Supreme Court will on Monday hear the CBI’s petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s order suspending the life sentence of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar and granting him bail in the 2017 Unnao rape case during the pendency of his appeal against his conviction.
According to the Supreme Court cause list for December 29 released on its website, the CBI’s appeal against the December 23 order of the high court is listed before a three-judge Special Vacation Bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice AG Masih.
The CBI has requested the top court to stay the order that has created an uproar.
The top court will also take up another petition filed by advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar challenging the suspension of sentence and grant of bail to Sengar. They have contended that the high court passed the order without considering that the trial court had said that Sengar must remain in jail for the rest of his natural life.
Crying foul over the Delhi High Court’s order granting bail to Sengar, the victim on Saturday demanded that the CBI should register an FIR against the then-investigating officer for being “hand in glove” with Sengar.
Holding that aggravated offence provisions under Section 5(c) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 376(2) of the Indian Penal Code were not attracted in Sengar's case, as he could not be categorised as a “public servant” within the meaning of the relevant provisions of the law. On that basis, the high court had suspended his sentence.
The high court had suspended the jail term of Sengar — serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case — noting he has already served seven years and five months in prison.
Sengar's sentence has been suspended by the high court till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case. He has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the case.
He will, however, remain in jail as he is also serving 10 years' imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim's father and has not been granted bail in that case.
The high court had directed Sengar, who kidnapped and raped a minor, to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the amount.
It had also ordered him not to come within a 5-km radius of the survivor's residence in Delhi and not to threaten her or her mother. Violation of any of the conditions would lead to the cancellation of bail, the high court said.
The petitioners said the high court has committed a grave error in law as well as on facts in granting bail/suspension of sentence to Sengar despite his serious criminal antecedents and his established involvement in the heinous offences of rape.
"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’s murder to silence the family and frustrate the due course of justice," they submitted.
The high court suspended the jail term of Sengar — serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case — noting he has already served seven years and five months in prison.
The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the orders of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the case of the custodial death of the survivor's father is also pending, where he has sought suspension of sentence on the ground that he has already spent a substantial time in jail.
