LI Network
Published on: 16 January 2023 at 19:25 IST
Delhi High Court division bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Poonam A Bamba granted interim bail for 15 days to Ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar– sentenced to life by a trial court for raping a minor girl in 2017 – on account of his daughter’s wedding.
High Court granted bail to Ex-BJP MLA from January 27 to February 10 directing him to report to the concerned station house officer on a daily basis during his release period and to furnish two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each.
Senior Advocates N Hariharan and P K Dubey Appearing for Appellant submitted that the wedding rituals and ceremonies would be held in Gorakhpur and Lucknow and being the only male family member, Sengar had to make the arrangements.
The Trial Court had sentenced Ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh after the victim’s father – who was allegedly framed and arrested in an illegal arms case – died in judicial custody days later on April 9, 2018. The trial court had said “no leniency” could be shown for killing a family’s “sole bread earner”.
District judge Dharmesh Sharma had said Sengar was a public servant, people had reposed faith in him and he had betrayed their trust. “All possible coercive measures were employed against the family. There was pain to the family and efforts were made to threaten harm,” the judge said.
Sengar has also challenged the trial court’s December 16, 2019 order that found him guilty of raping a minor girl and its December 20, 2019 order that sentenced him to “life imprisonment till the remainder of his biological life”. The trial court had found Sengar guilty under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 5(c) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, holding that the victim’s testimony was “unblemished, truthful and… of sterling quality”.