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Delhi High Court has refused to suspend the 10-year sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the case of custodial death of Unnao rape victim’s father. The court has rejected the petition of Kuldeep Sengar. Justice Ravinder Dudeja said that Sengar had spent about 7.5 years in custody out of a total sentence of 10 years and there had been a delay in deciding his appeal against the sentence in the case, this delay was partly due to Sengar having made several applications, therefore, he rejected the application for bail and suspension of sentence.

This rejection comes a few weeks after the Supreme Court stayed the Delhi High Court order in which the life sentence of the former MLA was suspended in the 2017 rape case.

The father of the Unnao rape victim was arrested at the behest of Sengar and died in custody due to police brutality on April 9, 2018. In March 2020, a Delhi court convicted Sengar and others for his death and sentenced them to 10 years in jail.

Court refused to suspend the sentence

The judge further emphasized that after the sentencing there were no developments in the case that would allow the court to use its judgment in favor of the appellant. Considering Sengar’s criminal record, the court held that the gravity of the crime and the overall facts and circumstances did not warrant suspending the sentence at this stage.

Rejecting the application, the court said that the appeal will be heard on merit and directed to hear it at the earliest.

Justice Dudeja stressed that instead of giving interim relief in the form of suspending the sentence, the right approach would be to take a final decision on the appeal.

Even in June 2024, the court had rejected the application

The special thing is that in June 2024, the High Court had rejected one such application of Sengar. The court had then said that when factors like the seriousness of the crime, nature of the crime, criminal record of the convict and the impact on public confidence in the judiciary are considered, Sengar is not entitled to suspend the sentence.

Sengar has been in custody since April 13, 2018, and is serving a 10-year jail sentence in a custodial death case. He was convicted by the trial court along with other accused in 2018.