Death of Unnao victim’s father: Delhi HC rejects Kuldeep Sengar’s plea to suspend sentence

The Delhi HC refused to suspend the 10 year jail term awarded to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar for the custodial death of the Unnao rape victim’s father.

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to suspend the 10 year jail term awarded to expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar for the custodial death of the Unnao rape victim’s father.

The court rejected Sengar’s plea seeking suspension of his sentence during the pendency of his appeal against conviction.

“This Court is not inclined to allow the present application seeking suspension of sentence at this stage. Accordingly, the present application stands dismissed,” the high court said.

Sengar sought suspension of his sentence on the ground that he has already served almost six years and the prosecution’s case against him is solely based on circumstantial evidence.

“Though the appellant [Sengar] herein has undergone more than half of the sentence imposed upon him, i.e. about six years out of 10 years of imprisonment awarded to him, this Court also remains conscious of the fact that the period undergone by a convict is only one of the several factors which are to be taken into consideration while adjudicating an application seeking suspension of sentence,” the court said.

It added, “Other factors such as gravity of offence, nature of the crime, criminal antecedents of the convict, impact on public confidence in court, et al. are also to be appreciated and kept in mind by the courts.”

The court said once an accused has been held guilty, the presumption of innocence gets erased, and his application for suspension of sentence has to be considered on the basis of a prima facie view of his role, gravity of offence, etc. and the period undergone in jail is only one of these several factors.