Unnao Rape Case: Supreme Court To Hear Survivor's Plea Against Kuldeep Singh Sengar Bail

The Supreme Court today allowed the survivor in Unnao rape case to become a party in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s appeal challenging the bail granted to accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi allowed an impleadment application filed by the survivor, observing that she has a right to be heard in light of the judgment in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. In the Lakhimpur Kheri violence judgment from 2022, the Supreme Court had held that a victim in a criminal case “has a legally vested right to be heard at every step post the occurrence of an offence”.

In December last year, during a special hearing the Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi High Court order that had suspended the life sentence of former Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.

The three-judge bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih had passed the interim order after hearing detailed submissions from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Senior Advocates Siddharth Dave and N. Hariharan, who represented Sengar.

Solicitor General Mehta had described the matter as a “horrific case of rape of a child”, emphasizing that Sengar had been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 5 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. “There is no doubt that he is convicted for rape,” Mehta had told the Bench, adding that under the amended law, the punishment for such offences is now a minimum of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment.

He had also stated that the appeal against Sengar’s conviction was still pending before the Delhi High Court, and argued that suspending his sentence during this pendency undermined the gravity of the offence. CJI Surya Kant queried whether the concept of a “public servant” under the POCSO Act was relevant when the victim was a minor.

The CBI's appeal assails the High Court’s December 23, 2025 order granting Sengar suspension of sentence under Section 389(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure during the pendency of his criminal appeal against conviction.

Sengar was convicted in December 2019 by a trial court for raping a minor girl and for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the trial court observing that there were no mitigating circumstances. It underscored that Sengar, as a public servant in a democratic setup, had betrayed public trust, noting that “a single act of depravity” was sufficient to do so. The case relates to allegations that the minor survivor was kidnapped and raped by Sengar between June 11 and 20, 2017, and later sold for ₹60,000. She was subsequently recovered at the Maakhi police station in Uttar Pradesh.

A Division Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar ruled that Sengar could not be categorised as a “public servant” under Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act or Section 376(2)(b) of the IPC.

A Special Leave Petition has also been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's decision suspending the life sentence of former MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case. The petition filed by Advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar through Advocate-on-Record Sanjeev Malhotra seeks cancellation of bail granted to Kuldeep Senger in relation to Unnao rape case.

Case Title: CBI Vs Kuldeep Singh Sengar and another matter

Bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justice Bagchi

Hearing Date: March 9, 2025