After the Supreme Court stayed Delhi High Court’s order allowing suspension of Unnao rape convict and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s life sentence, survivor thanked apex court, calling it a “big relief” after massive protests. She mentioned that videos of her husband are being circulated publicly from his social media account with the intent of enabling his identification and killing.
She further said her husband is frightened by these developments and added that no action has been taken in the matter so far.
“I thank the Supreme Court for providing relief to me. My video is being taken from my husband’s social media account and being shared publicly so that he can be identified and killed… My husband is scared… No action is being taken against that,” ANI quoted the survivor as saying.
The Supreme Court’s three-judge vacation bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and including Justices JK Maheshwari and AG Masih, was hearing the CBI’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s December 23 order, which had suspended Sengar’s life sentence pending appeal and granted him bail.
While staying the High Court’s order, the apex court noted that Sengar remains in custody in another case. “We are informed that the convict is also convicted and sentenced under Section 304 (murder) of the IPC and that he is still in custody in that case. Considering such peculiar circumstances, we stay the operation of the impugned order. The respondent shall not be released,” the bench observed.
‘CBI is still not cooperating’
Meanwhile, her counsel Mehmood Pracha alleged on Monday that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is not cooperating with them in the case. He added that such behavior by the CBI aligns with past patterns, noting that the agency had employed a similar approach during the Hathras rape case investigation.
He stated, “The CBI is still not cooperating. They lived up to our expectations that they would hide things from us… They withheld the copy till about last night… This has been a strategy not only in this case but also in the Hathras case.”
The Supreme Court also issued notice to Sengar, asking him to respond to the CBI’s plea within two weeks.
Sengar, a former Uttar Pradesh MLA, was convicted in December 2019 in the 2017 Unnao rape case and sentenced to life imprisonment along with a fine of 25 lakh. Despite being granted bail by the High Court in the rape case, he continued to remain in prison as he is serving a 10-year sentence in a separate CBI murder case.
(This is a developing story. More to come)
