NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the jail term of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment in the 2017 Unnao rape case, saying he has already served seven years and five months in prison.
Sengar’s sentence has been suspended 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 since 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.
Imposing several conditions, the Bench, comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, directed Sengar to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the like amount.
It also directed him not to come within a 5-km radius of the victim’s residence in Delhi and not to threaten her or her mother. “Violation of any of the conditions would lead to cancellation of bail,” the court said.
About the victim’s apprehension about danger to her life, the court said it expected that she would continue to get CRPF cover.
“At the same time, however, the argument of keeping the appellant (Sengar) in custody because of threat perception to the victim/ survivor, in the opinion of this court, is not a tenable argument to deny the benefit of section 389 CrPC to the appellant,” the Bench said in its 53-page verdict.
He was also asked to deposit his passport with the trial court and to report to the local police station every Monday at 10 am. The court listed his appeal before the roster bench on January 16, 2026, subject to orders of the chief justice.
The bench further said that letting Sengar be in jail when he has already spent about seven years and five months in prison would be violative of Article 21 (protection of life and liberty) of the Constitution.