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5d ago

Delhi High Court Suspends Sengar’s Life Term After Ruling MLA Status Doesn’t Trigger Aggravated POCSO Charge

The bench said the harsher authority-figure provision does not cover legislators, prompting interim relief during his appeal.

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The court ordered Sengar’s release pending his appeal, noting that he has already undergone about 7 years and 5 months of imprisonment following his conviction by a trial court. (Representational image)
File photo of BJP ex-MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar | ANI

Overview

  • A division bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan took a prima facie view that the aggravated provision was wrongly applied because an MLA is not treated as a public servant under the statutes POCSO incorporates.
  • The court suspended Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s life sentence from his 2019 rape conviction pending final adjudication of his appeal.
  • The judges noted POCSO does not define public servant and, under Section 2(2), allows reference only to the IPC, CrPC, JJ Act or IT Act, rejecting the trial court’s reliance on the Prevention of Corruption Act.
  • Conditions include staying in Delhi, not entering a 5 km radius of the survivor’s home, and making no threats, with the local DCP directed to supervise the survivor’s protection.
  • Sengar will remain in custody unless his separate 10-year sentence in the custodial-death case is also suspended, and both the survivor and the CBI opposed his plea for relief.