The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Delhi High Court order suspending ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar's life sentence in the rape case of a woman - then a minor - in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.
The high court on December 23 suspended the jail term of Sengar, a former four-time MLA from the Unnao region, till the pendency of his appeal, saying he has already served seven years and five months in prison, and granted him conditional bail. He will, however, remain in jail since he is also serving 10 years' imprisonment in the custodial death case of the survivor's father and has not been granted bail in that case.
A three-judge vacation bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices JK Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih, while hearing a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the high court order, said 59-year-old Sengar should not be released from custody.
"We are conscious of the fact that when a convict or an undertrial has been released, such orders are not ordinarily stayed by this court without hearing such persons. But in view of peculiar facts, where the convict is also convicted for a separate offence, we stay the operation of the Delhi High Court," the top court said.
The bench also issued notice to Kuldeep Singh Sengar and directed that a counter-affidavit be filed within four weeks.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, called it a "very horrific" case.
"We are answerable to the girl," he said.
He also opposed the high court suspending Sengar's sentence, which had said that he had already served the maximum punishment of 7 years' imprisonment under the law.
Mehta said that the minimum punishment for the offence committed by Sengar is 20 years after the amendment to provisions on rape.
The top court, however, said that the amendment came into effect only after the commission of the crime in the present case.
"The amendment was not there during the commission of the offence," the bench said.
Mehta also opposed the high court declaring that Sengar, an MLA when the offence was committed, was not a public servant to be prosecuted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The bench also called out social media trials after Sengar's lawyer said that photographs of Delhi High Court judges were being circulated with captions urging people to "identify these judges".
Chief Justice Surya Kant said the court was not sitting in "ivory towers" and was aware that attempts were being made to take "political advantage" of the situation.
The bench also said that even "the finest judges are prone to errors" and judicial scrutiny is part of the system.
When the survivor's lawyer said that Sengar was making a hue and cry, the Chief Justice said, "You are forgetting that he was convicted by the judiciary only. Don't try to browbeat the judiciary."
"Arguments must be made inside the court, not outside," the bench said.
