SC Allows Unnao Rape Survivor to Be Heard in CBI Plea Against Suspension of Sengar's Life Term

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted Unnao rape survivor to be a party in the petition filed by the CBI challenging suspension of life imprisonment of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, saying that the victim has a right to be heard in the proceedings. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi permitted the survivor to be made a party to the case, saying that victims are entitled to participate in proceedings affecting their interests, in line with the apex court's earlier judgement in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

"We are of the view that the victim has the right to be heard," the CJI said and granted two weeks to file her affidavit against the suspension of life sentence of the convict.

The bench, however, rejected an intervention application filed by a relative of the rape survivor alleging threat to his life and liberty.

The CJI said he can pursue an independent remedy instead of intervening in the CBI's petition and move the high court for protection. The bench then disposed of his application.

The bench did not take up the CBI's petition against the suspension of sentence as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the probe agency, was unavailable on Monday.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, representing Sengar, requested that the matter be listed for hearing at the earliest, arguing that the liberty granted to his client by the Delhi High Court had been curtailed.

The CJI said a date for the hearing would be fixed soon.

On December 29 last year, the top court stayed the Delhi High Court order suspending the life sentence of Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case and said he shall not be released from custody.

The bench, while hearing the CBI's plea challenging the high court order, had said that substantial questions of law have arisen in the matter that require consideration.

The apex court had also issued notice to Sengar seeking his response within four weeks on the CBI's plea.

The bench had said it was conscious of the fact that ordinarily when a convict or an undertrial was released on bail pursuant to an order passed by a trial court or the high court, such order shall not be stayed by it without hearing such person.

It noted that Sengar was also convicted and sentenced in a separate case and was still in custody in that matter.

"In the peculiar circumstances of the case, we stay the operation of the impugned order dated December 23, 2025, passed by the high court. Consequently, the respondent (Sengar) shall not be released from custody pursuant to the said order," the bench had said.

The top court had said various substantial questions of law have arisen for its consideration in the matter.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, urged the bench to stay the high court order, saying it was a "horrific rape" of a minor child.

The Delhi High Court had, in its December 23 order, said that Sengar has been convicted under Section 5(C) (aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a public servant) of the POCSO Act but an elected representative does not fit the definition of a "public servant" under Section 21 of the IPC.

The counsel for Sengar had said there are always some elements that attempt to browbeat honest judges and such devious forces must not be encouraged.

The high court had suspended the jail term of Sengar, who was serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case, till the pendency of his appeal, saying he had already served seven years and five months in prison.

The high court order has sparked criticism from a section and there have been protests by the victim, her family and activists.

Sengar had challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the case. He had, however, remained in jail since he was also serving 10 years' imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim's father and has not been granted bail in that case.

The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.

Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the case of the custodial death of the survivor's father is also pending, where he has sought suspension of sentence on the ground that he has already spent a substantial time in jail.

In its plea filed in the apex court, the CBI referred to its verdict in the L K Advani case in which it held that anyone who holds public office, like MPs or MLAs, would be deemed a 'public servant'.

It contended that the high court erred by declaring that Sengar, an MLA when the offence was committed, was not a 'public servant' to be prosecuted under POCSO and granted him bail.