A protest was held outside the Delhi High Court against the suspension of the jail term of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case. The victim’s mother demanded that Sengar’s bail be rejected and said she would approach the Supreme Court for justice, expressing her loss of faith in the High Court’s decision. “If we don’t get justice in the Supreme Court, we will go to another country… The person guilty of my husband’s murder should be hanged immediately,” she told ANI.
Police warned the protesters that demonstrations outside the court were prohibited and illegal, advising them to move to Jantar Mantar if they wished to protest. Women’s activist Yogita Bhayana, who joined the protest, said they had approached the Delhi High Court peacefully to demand justice for the Unnao rape survivor and would continue to protest if justice was not served. The survivor and her family had also protested at India Gate on December 23, raising concerns over the suspension of Sengar’s sentence.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in December 2019 for raping a 17-year-old girl in Unnao in 2017 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court granted him conditional bail, noting that he had already served the maximum punishment under the POCSO Act. The bail requires him to furnish a bond of ₹15 lakh and prohibits him from contacting the victim’s family. Sengar, however, remains in custody as he has not yet been granted bail in connection with the custodial death of the victim’s father, for which he was sentenced to 10 years.
Congress leader Mumtaz Patel criticised the High Court’s decision, calling it a “huge setback” and warning that it undermines the confidence of women across India. “This is a huge setback, the way the High Court has given Sengar a free pass on a technicality. This is setting a very bad precedent in the country… Not just theirs, but that of women across the country,” she said.
