Unnao rape victim father’s death: HC grants interim bail to Sengar

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, serving 10 years' imprisonment for the death of the Unnao rape victim's father in custody, to attend his daughter's wedding.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma suspended the sentence from January 27 to February 10 and said a division bench of the high court has already granted interim relief to Sengar, and sufficient conditions have been imposed on him.

On January 16, the division bench granted interim bail to Sengar in a case in which he is serving life term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.

Sengar, represented by senior advocate P K Dubey and lawyer Kanhaiya Singhal, informed the court that wedding rituals and ceremonies would be held in Gorakhpur and Lucknow, and being the only male family member, he has to make the arrangements.

During the hearing, the victim's sister, who was present in the court, opposed the plea for interim release.

The high court was told that the 'sagan' ceremony of the leader's daughter is scheduled on January 18 and the marriage is fixed for February 8.

Sengar's appeal challenging the trial court's verdict in the Unnao rape case is pending in the high court. He has sought quashing of the December 2019 judgement of the trial court which sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.

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, besides imposition of a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the case of death of the rape victim's father in custody. The court had also awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others.

The father of the rape victim was arrested at the behest of Sengar in a case under Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018.

The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty of murder under the IPC, awarded the maximum sentence for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to the convicts under section 304 of the IPC after holding that there was no intention to kill.

The case was transferred to Delhi from the trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.