Aastha Thakur
Published on: 22 December 2022 at 18:38 IST
The Delhi High Court today, asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to submit its response to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s interim bail plea while he is already serving jail term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017.
The bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice Poonam A. Bamba asked the agency to file updated status report against Sengar. The accused has applied for bail on ground of attending his daughter’s wedding ceremony.
Earlier, Justice Talwant Singh part of the Division bench recused himself from this matter.
Sengar, whose appeal challenging the trial court’s verdict in the Unnao rape case is already pending in the High Court, has sought interim bail for two months to attend the ceremonies which would begin on January 18.
He has sought quashing for the trial court’s conviction on December 16, 2019. Sengar has also asked for the dismissal of the order from December 20, 2019 that sentenced him to life in prison.
Sengar had been found guilty by the trial court of several offences, including rape under Section 376 (2) of the IPC, which deals with public employees who “take advantage of their official position and commit rape on a woman in their custody as such public servants or in the custody of a public servant subordinate to them.”
The court sentenced him for life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural biological life” and also imposed an exemplary fine of Rs 25 lakh on him.
The minor girl from Unnao was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017.
The Supreme Court take cognizance of the rape survivior’ letter written to then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, and transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court in Uttar Pradesh to the court in Delhi with directions to hold trial on a daily basis and complete it within 45 days.