Delhi HC dismisses Kuldeep Sengar’s plea to suspend sentence in Unnao survivor’s father’s death case

The Delhi High Court on January 19, dismissed a plea by expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar seeking suspension of his 10-year sentence in the custodial death case of the Unnao rape survivor’s father.
Rejecting the application, Justice Ravinder Dudeja said no grounds were made out for granting relief. “The application seeking suspension of sentence is dismissed,” the court observed.
While noting that Sengar has undergone a long period of incarceration, the judge held that relief could not be granted on the ground of delay, as the delay was partly attributable to multiple applications filed by him in his pending appeal against conviction. The court said the purpose would be served if the appeal is heard expeditiously and listed the matter for hearing on February 3.
On March 13, 2020, a trial court had sentenced Sengar to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh in the case related to the death of the survivor’s father while in custody. The court had ruled that “no leniency” could be shown in the killing of a family’s “sole breadwinner”.
The trial court had also sentenced Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh Sengar, and five others to 10 years’ imprisonment for their role in the custodial death.
The survivor’s father was arrested under the Arms Act at Sengar’s behest and died in custody on April 9, 2018, allegedly due to police brutality. Sengar had kidnapped and raped the minor survivor in 2017.
While the trial court did not convict the accused for murder, it awarded the maximum punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, holding that there was no intention to kill.
Sengar’s appeals in the rape case, arising from a December 2019 judgment sentencing him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life and in the custodial death case are pending before the high court. His sentence in the rape case was suspended by the high court on December 23, 2025, during the pendency of his appeal, but the Supreme Court stayed that suspension on December 29, 2025.