The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (23rd December), suspended the life sentence of rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case because he has already been in prison for seven years and five months.
#Delhi High Court suspends jail term of #Unnaorape accused Kuldeep Sengar https://t.co/P0UwU5Z8Vc
— The Tribune (@thetribunechd) December 24, 2025
The court has ordered that Sengar’s sentence will remain suspended until his appeal against the December 2019 trial court conviction is decided. Sengar has challenged the trial court’s verdict that ordered him to life imprisonment in the rape case.
Despite the suspension of his life sentence, Sengar will not be released from jail. This is because he is also serving a 10-year prison term in the custodial death case of the rape survivor’s father and has not been granted bail in that case as well.
A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar imposed several strict conditions while granting him relief. The court directed Sengar to submit a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh along with three sureties of the same amount.
The court also clearly told Sengar not to enter within a five-kilometre radius of the survivor’s residence in Delhi and not to threaten or try to contact her or her mother in any way. The judges warned that if any of these conditions are violated, the bail will be cancelled immediately.
Addressing the survivor’s concern about the threat to her life, the court said it expects that she will continue to receive CRPF security cover. At the same time, the bench said that keeping Sengar in custody only because of threat perception cannot be a valid reason to deny him the benefit of suspension of sentence under Section 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The court further ordered Sengar to deposit his passport with the trial court and directed him to report to the local police station every Monday at 10 am. His appeal has been listed before the appropriate bench on 16th January, 2026, subject to orders of the Chief Justice.
The bench also observed that continuing to keep Sengar in jail after he has already completed more than seven years of imprisonment would violate Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.