Unnao rape case: Supreme Court sets aside Delhi High Court order suspending Kuldeep Sengar's sentence

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Delhi High Court order suspending life sentence awarded to former BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.

The court remitted the matter to the High Court to decide the plea afresh.

Partly allowing an appeal filed by the CBI, a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the High Court either to decide Sengar's appeal against conviction within two-three months or pass a fresh order on the application seeking sentence of his suspension.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Sengar, contended that there was strong evidence to show that the prosecutrix was not a minor at the time of the alleged incident.

Opposing the submissions, the Solicitor General SG Tushar Mehta, for the CBI, claimed the High Court was wrong in taking a view that an MLA was not a "public servant" within the meaning of the POCSO Act.

Agreeing with him, the bench said, "We are not endorsing the hypertechnical view taken by the High Court."

The court said that the POCSO Act was enacted to protect children.

In December last year, the court stayed the Delhi High Court order suspending the jail sentence and granting bail to the expelled BJP leader, Sengar in the Unnao rape case, after hearing the appeal filed by the CBI.