Delhi HC dismisses Kuldeep Sengar's plea for suspension of sentence in Unnao custodial death case

The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s plea seeking suspension of his 10-year sentence in the custodial death case of the Unnao rape survivor’s father. The court declined to grant relief, noting the seriousness of the offence and Sengar’s criminal antecedents.

The case relates to April 2018, when the minor rape survivor’s family had travelled to Unnao for a court hearing. Her father was allegedly assaulted in public and arrested the next day on arms possession charges. He later died in police custody due to multiple injuries, triggering nationwide outrage.

Dismissing the plea, Justice Ravinder Dudeja observed that there was no fresh development warranting suspension of sentence. While acknowledging Sengar’s long incarceration of over seven years, the court said the appeal could not be decided earlier due to delays, including multiple applications filed by the convict. The court stressed that the appeal must be heard on merits at the earliest.

Sengar is already serving a life sentence after being convicted in the rape case in December 2019 and was found guilty of conspiring in the custodial death of the survivor’s father in March 2020. Though his sentence in the rape case was briefly suspended by the High Court recently, the Supreme Court later stayed that order, reports said.