Overview
- A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant stayed the December 23 order and said Kuldeep Singh Sengar shall not be released pursuant to it.
- The Supreme Court issued notice to Sengar, sought his response within four weeks, and listed the case for a fuller hearing in late January.
- The bench noted the peculiar circumstance that Sengar remains in custody for a separate 10-year sentence in the custodial-death case of the survivor’s father.
- The Delhi High Court had suspended the life term after finding aggravated POCSO and IPC provisions inapplicable because an MLA is not a “public servant,” a reading the CBI disputes as contrary to the Act’s purpose.
- Outside the court, the survivor and women’s groups protested and urged protection, as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued for the CBI on both legal interpretation and victim safety.