CBI To Challenge Order Giving Bail To Kuldeep Sengar In Unnao Case: Sources

Unnao gangrape case: Sources said the CBI has decided to file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court soon after reviewing the High Court's order.

24 Dec 2025, 18:25 · www.ndtv.com

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Kuldeep Sengar was convicted in 2019 for the 2017 Unnao gangrape and had his sentence suspended recently
The High Court had ruled that Sengar’s MLA status excluded him from being defined as a public servant
The trial court had considered him a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act

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New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court order providing relief to Kuldeep Singh Sengar - the convict in the 2017 Unnao gangrape case -- will be challenged immediately in the Supreme Court by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was the probe and prosecuting agency in the case. Sources said the CBI has decided to file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court soon after reviewing the High Court's order.

Sengar, who was convicted in the case in 2019, has challenged his conviction and sentence. The Delhi High Court had suspended his sentence on Tuesday and he will be out of jail till the court reaches a decision on his appeal. He has been granted bail and will walk free.

The CBI and the woman's family had strongly opposed Sengar's appeal and bail application in the High Court, citing security concerns. The agency had filed its reply and written submissions in the case on time, sources said.

The Unnao survivor, who was a minor at the time, was kidnapped and raped for days. Sengar was arrested after an order from the Allahabad High Court and was convicted after the Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi and ordered that the trial be completed within 45 days.

The High Court now said that Sengar's status of an MLA at the time of the crime does not bring him under the ambit of "public servant" as defined under the IPC.

The bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan said this is why the Section 5 of the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) is not applicable in his case.

Under Section 5 of POCSO Act, sexual assault by an authority figure draws a 20-year jail term. The court said in the current situation, the seven years five months he served in jail is "more than minimum number of years under Section 4 of the POCSO Act".

The trial court had considered Sengar a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act and given him life term in jail.

The High Court's decision has now generated massive controversy, with the Opposition vehemently criticising the Centre.

In a post on X, Congress's Rahul Gandhi questioned if the survivor was getting mistreated because she has raised her voice against injustice.

"Is such treatment of a gang rape victim justified?" he wrote in Hindi on X. "Bail for rapists and treating survivors like criminals -- what kind of justice is this? We are not just becoming a dead economy -- with such inhuman incidents, we are also turning into a dead society," read a rough translation of his post in Hindi.

The survivor and her mother have been protesting against the Delhi High Court's relief. Today they met Gandhi and among other things, sought legal assistance.

"My tears will stop when his bail gets cancelled. Only then will my children eat food," her mother was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.

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