New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s order suspending the life sentence and granting bail to expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case.

The Special Leave Petition (SLP), filed under Article 136 of the Constitution, challenges the December 23 order passed by the Delhi High Court allowing Sengar’s application for suspension of sentence during the pendency of his appeal.

It was learnt earlier that the CBI and the victim’s family indicated their intention to challenge the Delhi High Court’s order before the apex court.

Before the Delhi High Court, the CBI strongly opposed Sengar’s plea, highlighting the seriousness of the offence and the potential risks involved.

In an order passed on Tuesday, a Division Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar of the Delhi High Court had suspended Sengar’s life sentence and granted him conditional bail during the pendency of his appeal, subject to strict conditions.

Despite the grant of bail in the rape case, Sengar was unlikely to be released immediately as he is serving a separate sentence in cases linked to the death of the survivor’s father.

The Unnao rape case had triggered nationwide outrage.

In December 2019, the trial court convicted Sengar of kidnapping and raping the minor girl and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, along with a fine of Rs 25 lakh.

The Supreme Court had earlier transferred all cases related to the incident from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi and directed that the trial be conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, the family members of the Unnao rape survivor, along with women’s rights activists, on Friday, held a protest outside the Delhi High Court against the suspension of Kuldeep Sengar’s life sentence.

Raising slogans and holding placards, the protesters said the bail order had “shaken public faith” and sent a wrong message on crimes against women.

–IANS

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