NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice and sought response of the CBI and others on the bail plea of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Sengar was convicted and awarded a life sentence for raping a minor in Unnao in 2017.
A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notice to CBI and the victim in the case and posted the matter for further hearing on May 25. The ex-MLA was convicted under Section 376 IPC and section 5(c) and 6 of POCSO Act in the year 2019 by Additional District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, Tis Hazari in the capital.
He was awarded a life sentence till the end of life. He had moved High Court against the conviction in the rape case. He was expelled from BJP and was disqualified after the conviction. Advocate N Hariharan submitted before the bench that the petitioner has been long incarcerated and that he has been jail for four years.
The bench asked about the sentence in this case. To which Hariharan submitted that the petitioner was awarded a life sentence. He argued that the gravity of this case was enhanced the moment POCSO Act was invoked.
Though the reality is that the victim was not a minor on the day of the incident. Hariharan further submitted that the victim and her mother have filed affidavits stating that the victim was not a minor on the day of the incident.
Sengar was also convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the case of custodial death of the father of the victim of the rape case. The apex court, taking cognisance of the rape survivor’s letter written to the then CJI had transferred all cases registered in connection with the incident from a Lucknow court to the court in Delhi.
POCSO ‘enhanced’ gravity of case
Advocate N Hariharan submitted that the gravity of this case was enhanced the moment POCSO was invoked. He argued that the petitioner has been long incarcerated and that he has been jail for four years.