Custodial death case: Delhi HC asks Unnao rape survivor to explain 1,940-day delay in filing appeal

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday questioned the Unnao rape survivor over a delay of 1,940 days in filing her appeal seeking capital punishment for expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar for her father's custodial death.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja remarked that when she was able to pursue other cases related to the incident, why there was a delay in this case.

"We are on limitation. You were pursuing at the same time other cases. You have to show us why for this case you could not? That is the only way we can condone your delay. When you were pursuing your other litigation, including his appeal (in the rape case). Then to justify this delay, you have to show how," the bench told the survivor's lawyer.

The survivor's counsel, Mehmood Pracha, said she was living under adverse conditions and it was a "miracle" that she was able to pursue other cases.

"I am so overburdened. I could not apply my mind to this. That is my case… It is a miracle that she was able to pursue those (cases). It is a miracle that she is alive. It is a miracle she is standing here," he said.

"There is a great delay but will delay override the truth?" Pracha asked.

Sengar's counsel said the judicial platform cannot be used for a media trial and opposed the survivor's appeal for enhancement of his sentence.

Advocate Kanhaiya Singhal appeared for Sengar and contended that the survivor was seeking conviction for offences not included in the cognisance order and accepting her plea would set the matter back ten years.

In his reply, Sengar said the survivor failed to show "sufficient cause" to justify the inordinate delay of 1,945 days in filing the appeal.

He also alleged that the appeal was filed with an ulterior motive to exert undue pressure for monetary extraction.

The CBI earlier said that it did not wish to raise any objections in the matter as the main contesting parties were Sengar and others.

On February 19, the court issued notice to Sengar and other convicts on the survivor's plea seeking condonation of the delay in filing the appeal against the 2020 trial court order on conviction and sentencing.

She sought enhancement of their sentence of 10-year imprisonment to death sentence.

The appeal prayed that Sengar and other convicts should be held guilty under Section 302 of the IPC for murder and sentenced to death, and the trial court's decision, which found them guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, should be modified.

Kuldeep Sengar was convicted of raping the survivor and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life on December 20, 2019.

The girl was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.

On March 13, 2020, Sengar, along with his brother Jaideep Sengar alias Atul Singh, was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the trial court, which also fined him Rs 10 lakh in the custodial death case of the rape survivor's father.

The girl's father was arrested at the behest of Sengar under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018, due to police brutality.

The trial court then said "no leniency" could be shown for killing a family's "sole bread earner." The trial court, however, did not hold the accused guilty of murder under the IPC and awarded the maximum sentence of 10 years for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to the convicts under Section 304 of the IPC, holding that there was no intention to kill.

The case was transferred to Delhi from the trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.