New Delhi, Dec 23, 2025
Giving conditional relief to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the life sentence awarded to him in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
A Division Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar granted bail to Sengar during the pendency of his appeal challenging the conviction.
The Justice Prasad-led Bench ordered Sengar’s release on a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of the like amount.
The Delhi High Court directed that Sengar will not come within a five-kilometre radius of the victim’s residence and shall remain in Delhi for the duration of the bail. It clarified that any violation of the conditions would lead to cancellation of bail.
Sengar has also been directed to report to the local police station every week, not to threaten or influence the survivor or her mother, and to deposit his passport with the trial court.
Suspending the sentence until disposal of the appeal, the Justice Prasad-led Bench directed that Sengar’s criminal appeal and connected application be listed before the appropriate roster Bench on January 15, 2026, subject to the orders of the Chief Justice, who is the master of the roster.
Despite the grant of bail in the rape case, Sengar is unlikely to walk out of jail as he is serving a separate 10-year sentence in cases linked to the death of the survivor’s father in 2018.
In December 2019, the trial court convicted Sengar of raping a minor girl and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, while also imposing a fine of Rs 25 lakh.
The Unnao rape survivor, a minor at the time of the incident, was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in June 2017. The trial started in August 2019 after the Supreme Court transferred all five cases related to the incident from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.
The apex court had directed that the trial be conducted on a day-to-day basis and completed within 45 days.
Following his conviction, Sengar was expelled from the BJP and disqualified as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.(Agency)
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