Unnao rape survivor’s death penalty plea: Delhi HC seeks Kuldeep Sengar’s stand

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court on Thursday sought stand of former UP MLA Kuldeep Sengar and other convicts on a plea by Unnao rape survivor to enhance their 10-year prison term to death sentence in the custodial death case of her father.

The bench issued notice to Sengar and others on the survivor’s plea that a delay of over 1,940 days in filing the appeal against the 2020 trial court order on conviction and sentencing be condoned.


HC, however, observed that the maintainability of the appeal has to be decided first. Sengar was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life on Dec 20, 2019 for kidnapping and raping the survivor in 2017, when she was a minor.

The girl’s father was arrested under the Arms Act at the behest of the accused, and died in custody on April 9, 2018, owing to police brutality. The trial court awarded maximum sentence of 10 years for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, after concluding there was no intention to kill.