The Delhi High Court, while refusing to extend the interim bail granted to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case, directed the former MLA to surrender before police.
The Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Dharmesh Sharma told Sengar that it would not hear his medical bail extension plea till he surrendered.
Noting that the Court had given enough indulgence to Sengar, the Bench said it cannot keep accommodating him.
The Counsel appearing for Sengar sought extension of his interim bail citing the need for a cataract surgery.
He submitted that All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has scheduled the surgery on January 24.
The High Court, however, noted that AIIMS would give another admission to Sengar.
Sengar is scheduled to surrender before the jail superintendent on January 20.
Justice Dharmesh Sharma meanwhile recused himself from the case on the grounds that he had passed the trial court order of conviction, which was challenged by Sengar in this petition.
Following the recusal of Justice Sharma, Justice Singh directed that the matter be listed before another Bench on January 27, in which Justice Dharmesh Sharma was not a member.
On December 23, 2024, the High Court had extended the interim bail granted to Sengar in the Unnao rape case by four weeks.
The Division Bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh and Justice Amit Sharma earlier extended Sengar’s interim bail by four weeks, enabling him to recover from the health issues he was facing after an eye surgery and the treatment he underwent for hemorrhoids.
The convict was further permitted to visit the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a follow-up medical consultation between January 10 to January 15, 2025. The High Court directed him to surrender before the Tihar Jail authorities on January 20.
The expelled BJP MLA was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a minor girl in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh in 2017. He was also convicted for murdering the victim’s father in connivance with police officers of Makhi, a village in Unnao district. He was awarded a 10-year jail term in the second case.
The Unnao rape survivor was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar between June 11 and June 20, 2017, when she was a minor. She was allegedly sold for Rs 60,000, and later recovered at the Maakhi police station. The survivor was reportedly threatened and warned by the police officials against speaking out, as instructed by Sengar.