The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to
expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, serving 10 years' imprisonment for
the death of the Unnao rape victim's father in custody, to attend his
daughter's wedding.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma suspended the sentence from
January 27 to February 10 and said a division bench of the high court has
already granted interim relief to Sengar, and sufficient conditions have been
imposed on him.
On January 16, the division bench granted interim bail
to Sengar in a case in which he is serving life term for raping a minor girl in
Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.
Sengar, represented by senior advocate P K Dubey and
lawyer Kanhaiya Singhal, informed the court that wedding rituals and ceremonies
would be held in Gorakhpur and Lucknow, and being the only male family member,
he has to make the arrangements.
During the hearing, the victim's sister, who was
present in the court, opposed the plea for interim release.
The high court was told that the 'sagan' ceremony of
the leader's daughter is scheduled on January 18 and the marriage is fixed for
February 8.
Sengar's appeal challenging the trial court's verdict
in the Unnao rape case is pending in the high court. He has sought
quashing of the December 2019 judgement of the trial court which sentenced him
to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
The girl was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017
when she was a minor.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years'
rigorous imprisonment, besides imposition of a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the case
of death of the rape victim's father in custody. The court had also awarded a
10-year jail term to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others.
The father of the rape victim was arrested at the
behest of Sengar in a case under Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018.
The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty
of murder under the IPC, awarded the maximum sentence for the offence of
culpable homicide not amounting to murder to the convicts under section 304 of
the IPC after 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.