Unnao rape: SC refuses to hear Kuldeep Sengar's bail plea in survivor's father's death case
A three-judge Bench led by CJI Surya Kant, however, asked the Delhi High Court to decide Sengar's appeal against his conviction within three months
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the custodial death case of the Unnao rape survivor's father, noting that it involved offences of “moral turpitude”.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, however, asked the Delhi High Court to hear Sengar’s appeal against his conviction on a priority basis along with the victim's appeal to enhance his sentence.
The top court said his appeal should be decided within three months.
The order came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted on behalf of the CBI that the victim's appeal for enhancement of sentence was listed for hearing before the High Court on February 11.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment by a trial court, which also imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine on him. The trial court had said that “no leniency” could be shown for killing a family's “sole bread earner”.
“We grant liberty to the appellant in that case (victim) to mention the same before High Court. Let Delhi High Court take up the appeal within one week and if High Court finds that the appeal can be decided along with the appeal by Sengar, then both can be heard and decided together. If that requires change in composition of the bench, the same can be done as well,” said the Bench which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice NV Anjaria.
Sengar had challenged the Delhi High Court’s January 19 order refusing to suspend his 10-year jail term in the case on the grounds of delay in trial. The delay was partly caused by multiple applications filed by the accused in the matter, the high court said.
On behalf of Sengar, senior counsel Siddharth Dave submitted that he had already spent more nine years and seven months in jail out of a term of 10 years.
“The High Court says period of incarceration not important,” Dave said, adding some of the co-accused have been released on bail after serving their sentences.
The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty of murder in the father's case, awarded him the maximum sentence for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder after holding that there was no intention to kill.
Sengar's appeals in the main rape case against the December 2019 judgement convicting him and sentencing him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life, as well as the father's case, are pending in the high court.
Sengar's sentence in the rape case was suspended by the high court on December 23, 2025 till the pendency of his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the rape case.
He has challenged the trial court’s December 2019 verdict in the case. But he continued to remain in jail as he was also serving 10 years' imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim's father and in which he had not been granted bail.
Noting that substantial questions of law were involved, the Supreme Court had on December 29, 2025 stayed the Delhi High Court’s order for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the expelled BJP leader in the 2017 Unnao rape case during the pendency of his appeal against conviction.
The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the orders of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the case of the custodial death of the survivor's father is also pending, where he has sought suspension of sentence on the ground that he has already spent a substantial time in jail.
