Death of Unnao rape victim's father: Delhi High Court asks CBI to respond to Kuldeep Sengar's plea

Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the CBI to respond to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar's plea seeking interim release in a case related to the custodial death of the Unnao rape victim's father for which he is serving 10 years in prison.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma directed the agency to file a report on or before January 16, the next date of hearing, on Sengar's application for interim bail and suspension of sentence on account of his daughter's wedding.

The CBI counsel informed the judge that Sengar had filed a similar plea before a division bench of the high court in another case in which he is serving a life term for raping the minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.

The division bench has already issued a notice to the CBI on the plea and listed it for hearing on January 16.

The 'sagan' ceremony of Sengar's daughter is scheduled on January 18 and the wedding has been fixed for February 8, said advocate Kanhaiya Singhal, appearing for the leader.

Also read: Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Sengar moves Delhi HC for interim bail

The high court was informed that Sengar was seeking interim bail for two months to attend the wedding ceremonies, which would begin on January 18.
Sengar's appeal challenging the trial court's verdict in the Unnao rape case is already pending in the high court.

He has sought quashing of the December 16, 2019, judgment of the trial court that convicted him in the rape case. Sengar has also sought setting aside of the December 20, 2019, order sentencing 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, the trial court sentenced Sengar to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in the case of the victim's father's death in custody. The trial court had said "no leniency" could be shown for killing a family's "sole bread earner".

It had also awarded 10 years' jail to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others for their role in the custodial killing of the rape victim's father.
The father of the rape victim was arrested at the behest of Sengar under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018, owing to police brutalities.

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

Besides 10 years in prison for culpable homicide, Sengar, his brother, the-then in-charge of Makhi police station Unnao Ashok Singh Bhadauria and then sub-inspectors KP Singh, Vineet Mishra, Birendra Singh and Shashi Pratap Singh were sentenced for other offences as well.

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

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