Overview
- India’s CBI filed a Special Leave Petition on December 26 asking the Supreme Court to set aside the Delhi High Court order that suspended Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s life sentence and granted him bail.
- Advocates Anjale Patel and Pooja Shilpkar have separately petitioned the Supreme Court to stay the High Court’s December 23 order.
- Sengar remains in custody because he is serving a 10-year sentence for the custodial death of the survivor’s father and has not received bail in that case.
- The Delhi High Court said Sengar had already served over seven years and held that aggravated provisions under POCSO Section 5(c) and IPC Section 376(2) did not apply because he could not be treated as a public servant.
- The suspension came with conditions, including a ₹15 lakh bond with three sureties, a bar on approaching within 5 km of the survivor’s residence and issuing threats, and restrictions on his movement in Delhi, prompting protests by the survivor, her mother and women’s groups.