NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court's decision to suspend the sentence and grant bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"We stay the Delhi High Court order. Notice issued," a three-judge bench of the top court, headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice AG Masih said.
While issuing notice to Sengar on the plea filed by the CBI challenging the Delhi High Court verdict which suspended Sengar's sentence and released him on bail during the pendency of his appeal against conviction, the apex court flagged certain substantial questions of law arising from the High Court’s suspension order.
The apex court observed and questioned as to whether the High Court examined conviction under Section 376(2)(i) IPC (Indian Penal Code) at all or not in the case.
"The matter requires consideration. We are inclined to stay the order. General principle is once someone has been released, person will be heard. But here, he continues to be in custody (in a separate case)", the CJI said.
The top court observed that amendments to POCSO relate to enhancement of punishment, not creation of a new offence, as it stressed that even “finest judges are prone to errors” and judicial scrutiny is part of the system.
During the hearing, the Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, for the CBI, argued that this is a horrific case of rape of a child. Charges were framed under Section 376 IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act.
There is a finding recorded which says the child was less than 16 and was 15 years 10 months. Against this conviction appeal is pending. But the Delhi HC meanwhile, suspended Sengar's jail sentence.
The Delhi HC had on December 23 suspended the jail term of expelled BJP leader Sengar serving the life imprisonment jail sentence in the 2017 Unnao rape case. The HC granted him relief, subject to strict conditions, including movement restrictions and regular police reporting.
A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar in its order directed Sengar to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three Delhi-based sureties of the same amount and to stay in Delhi, report weekly to the police and deposit his passport.
In the same case, two lawyers have also knocked the doors of the Supreme Court by filing the Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the suspension of jail sentence and grant of bail by the Delhi High Court.
The two lawyers (petitioners) -- Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar through Advocate-on-Record Sanjeev Malhotra -- moved the apex court after being aggrieved by the Delhi HC's December 23 order suspending the jail term of Sengar.