The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Delhi High Court order that had suspended the life sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, and asked the High Court to hear the plea afresh. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the high court should reconsider the matter without being influenced by any observations of the top court.
The bench also asked the Delhi High Court to make an endeavour to decide Sengar’s main plea against his conviction and life imprisonment within two months. It said that if the high court was unable to decide the main plea expeditiously, it should pass an order on Sengar’s application seeking suspension of his life sentence before the start of summer vacation.
The Supreme Court said it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and that the high court was free to proceed afresh. The Chief Justice also asked the high court to reconsider issues including whether an MLA can be treated as a public servant for the purpose of prosecution under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Earlier, the top court had deferred to the first week of May the hearing on a petition filed by the CBI against the suspension of Sengar’s life sentence in the case. On December 29 last year, the Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi High Court order suspending his life sentence and said he should not be released from custody.
In its order dated December 23, 2025, the Delhi High Court had said that Sengar had been convicted under Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act, which deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a public servant, but held that an elected representative does not fall within the definition of a public servant under Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code. The high court had suspended the jail term of Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case, during the pendency of his appeal, noting that he had already spent seven years and five months in prison.
The high court’s order had drawn criticism from various sections, and protests were held by the victim, her family and activists. The Supreme Court, which had earlier also set aside a high court order granting bail to Sengar after the issue triggered a public uproar, has now directed the Delhi High Court to hear the matter again and take a fresh decision.
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Inputs from PTI and Live Law
