New Delhi: Granting him bail and temporarily suspending his sentence, on December 23, 2025, Tuesday, the Delhi High Court suspended the life sentence of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and four-time ex-legislator from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, in the Unnao rape case. The bail has been granted pending the outcome of his appeal against conviction. As per a report in The Wire.
A division bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar. Sengar was directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh along with three sureties of the same amount.
Several conditions were imposed by the high court on Sengar’s release. Among these, he has been barred from entering within a five-kilometre radius of the survivor’s residence and has been instructed not to threaten or contact the survivor or her mother. The court has also directed him to remain in Delhi during the period of bail and to report to the police every Monday. It stated that any violation of any of these conditions would result in cancellation of bail, LiveLaw reported.
The court held that at this stage the offence under section 5(c) of the POSCO Act was not made out. The judgement argued that at this stage the offence did not amount to aggravated sexual assault under Section 5 of the POSCO Act.
The Delhi High Court judgement overturns, in large part, the judgement dated December 16, 2019 passed by the learned District & Sessions Judge – West District, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi [“learned Trial Court”] in Sessions Case No. 448/2019 arising out of FIR No. 96/2018 registered at Police Station Makhi, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, reregistered as RC-08(S)/2018, PS CBI/ACB/Lucknow.
Sengar, reports The Hindu, who is currently lodged in prison, will, however, remain in jail as he is also serving a 10-year sentence in the custodial death case of the rape victim’s father. Sengar, it has been alleged, kidnapped the girl and raped her in 2017, when she was still a minor. The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court in August 2019.
Now, following the December 23 order, the suspension of sentence will remain in force during the pendency of Sengar’s appeal challenging his conviction and sentence awarded by a Delhi trial court in December 2019. In that verdict, the trial court had convicted him for the rape of a 17-year-old girl and sentenced him to life imprisonment, along with imposing a fine of Rs 25 lakh. The trial court observed, that there were no mitigating circumstances and noted that Sengar, an elected public representative at the time, had breached public trust.
The rape case and three connected cases were transferred from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi by order of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019 with directions for day-to-day hearings. The survivor was provided court-mandated protection measures following the conviction, including the option of a safe house and change of identity.
Sengar’s appeal against his separate conviction in the custodial death case of the survivor’s father is still awaiting a judicial outcome. In that case, he has been sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. He has sought suspension of sentence on the ground that he has already spent a substantial period in custody.
There is also a third case reports The Times of India– a collision on the road in which the survivor and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts were killed – a separate case had been registered against Sengar. In December 2021, a Delhi court discharged him in that matter, holding that there was no evidence linking him to the incident.
Yesterday, Tuesday December 23, Delhi police detailed the protesting family members of the Survivor at India Gate. Visuals of the Delhi police manhandling protesters have been circulating on social media.
Rapist & former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar:
>Raped a 17-year-old minor girl.
>Police did not act against him.
>Girl attempted self-immolation.
>Case was later taken up by CBI
>Killed victim’s father
>a court convicted him of rape.
>sentenced to life imprisonment.
>a truck of… pic.twitter.com/QPOFwaDfeb— Mohit Chauhan (@mohitlaws) December 23, 2025
Unnao rape survivor protesting at the India gate against the Delhi High Court order suspending sentence of ex-UP BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was bundled in a van by the police. pic.twitter.com/KPybock3LI
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 24, 2025
A battery of close two dozen advocates represented Kildeep Sengar in the Delhi High Court: these were N Hariharan Sr Adv, SPM Tripathi, Amit Sinha, Deepak Sharma, Rahul Poonia, Mr. Ambuj Singh, Ashish Tiwari, Gaurav Kumar, Saurabh Dwivedi, Ms. Punya Rekha, Ms. Angara, Ms. Vasundhara N, Aman Akhtar, Sana Singh, Vasundhara Raj Tyagi, Mr. Arjan Singh Mandla, Ms. Gauri Ramachandran, Manish Vashisht, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Aishwarya Sengar, Mr. Vedansh Vashisht and Mr. Swapan Singhal.
The judgement of the Delhi High Court may be read here.
Background
Sengar, from Bangarmau in Uttar Pradesh, was accused in connection with a 2017 case involving a teenage girl from Unnao district. An FIR was eventually registered against him under the criminal law and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act following the allegations. On April 3, 2018, the girl’s father was allegedly assaulted by individuals linked to Sengar and later died on April 8 after falling ill while in custody. A local shopkeeper, who had reportedly witnessed the assault gave a statement to the CBI and later died under unexplained circumstances on August 18, 2018.
The case drew national attention and outrage after the girl attempted self-harm outside the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s residence and was subsequently critically injured in a road collision that resulted in the deaths of two family members. In 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the case and three related matters from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi and ordered expedited hearings. In December 2019, a Delhi trial court convicted Sengar in the main case. He was also sentenced separately to ten years’ imprisonment in the custodial death case relating to the girl’s father.
Now
On December 23, 2025, the Delhi High Court suspended Sengar’s life sentence and granted him bail pending the outcome of his appeal. The order was passed by Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, subject to Sengar furnishing a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties.
The court directed that Sengar must not enter within a five-kilometre radius of the complainant’s residence, must not contact or intimidate her or her family, must remain in Delhi during the bail period, and must report to the police every Monday. It stated that any breach of these conditions would lead to cancellation of bail. To be precise, the high court has suspended the life sentence awarded to Sengar for the duration of the pendency of his appeal. The suspension is what legally allows the court to grant him bail.
Related:
Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Singh Sengar convicted
Ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, brother convicted in Unnao rape survivor’s father’s death
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