"Spent 8 Years In Jail": Ex-Top Court Judge On Unnao Rape Convict's Bail

Former Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju has defended the Unnao rape convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar's bail as the top court is hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea against the Delhi High Court order that suspended the life sentence and granted bail to the expelled BJP leader.

According to Katju, the rape convict has already spent over eight years in jail, and he cannot be given a life sentence as he is "not a public servant".

"It is not that Sengar has not spent any time in jail. He has spent more than eight years in jail. Secondly, this order of the high court is an interim order; it is not the final judgment. The case is still pending. And the bench has not gone into the merits of the case, in the sense that it is not considered whether Sengar is guilty of the offence or not, whether that girl was below or above 18. However, what the bench has really said is that the question is whether an MLA is a public servant within the meaning of the POCSO Act," the former top court judge told NDTV.

Explaining the merits of a 'public servant', Katju said, "The trial court has held that the MLA is a public servant. But the high court has pointed out that he's not a public servant under the POCSO Act. The POCSO Act does not define the expression public servant but it mentions that words and expressions not defined in this act will have the same meaning as in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). So, in IPC, a list of people deemed to be public servants is given. MLA is not one of them."

"When he's not a public servant as defined in the POCSO Act, then you can't send him to life imprisonment," he added.

Stressing on the fact that Sengar spent over eight years in jail, Katju questioned, "You know, in India, cases take a long time to decide. Supposing it takes another 10 years to decide, and after 10 years - he's spent 18 years in jail, and it is found that the judgment from the trial court is wrong, who will restore 18 years of his life?"

The former top court judge said that a "balance has to be struck" in the case.

Sengar was convicted in 2019 for kidnapping and raping a minor girl in Unnao and was sentenced to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 25 lakh. He was granted bail last week. However, Sengar will remain in jail as he is concurrently serving a 10-year sentence after he was found guilty of culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy in the death of the survivor's father.

The rape convict's bail triggered massive outrage that even led to clashes in Delhi between central forces tasked with 'guarding' the survivor and members of her family. Visuals of the survivor's mother, seemingly forced to jump from a moving bus that then drove off with her daughter on board, had gone viral.

The survivor's family said that the suspension of Sengar's sentence had "shaken public faith" and "sent a wrong message on crimes against women".

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, and Justices J K Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih is hearing the CBI's plea against Sengar's bail today. The federal agency moved the top court against the December 23 order of the Delhi High Court allowing Sengar's application for suspension of sentence during the pendency of his appeal.