In a much-needed intervention following widespread outrage across India, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court's bail order for Kuldeep Sengar, a former BJP MLA convicted in the 2017 Unnao rape case involving a minor. The Court also issued a notice to Sengar on the CBI's appeal against the High Court's decision.
The three-judge vacation bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices JK Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih, heard the case. "We stay the operation of the Delhi HC order dated December 23, 2025, and therefore, the respondent shall not be released pursuant to the said order," the CJI stated, as reported by legal news website Bar and Bench.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's 23 December ruling, which had suspended the life sentence imposed on Kuldeep Sengar by the trial court in the 2017 Unnao rape case.
“We have heard SG Mehta for CBI and seniors for the convict. We find that there are various substantial queurons of law which arises. Counter be filed in 4 weeks. We are conscious of the fact that when convict or undertrial has been released such orders are not ordinarily stayed by this court without hearing such persons. But in view of peculiar facts where convict is convicted for a separate offence,” stated, Justice Surya Kant, the Chief Justice of India in the order.
Sengar was convicted in December 2019 by a Delhi trial court under the IPC and POCSO Act, receiving a life sentence. The Delhi High Court's decision to grant bail was based on a prima facie finding that the charge of aggravated sexual assault under POCSO was not substantiated, as reported by Bar and Bench.
Section 5 of the POCSO Act defines aggravated penetrative sexual assault, which occurs when the crime is committed by specific individuals such as public servants, police officers, armed forces, security forces, or hospital and jail staff. It carries a minimum sentence of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
Sengar was sentenced by the trial court for the offense on the basis that he was considered a 'public servant'. However, the High Court Division Bench, comprising Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, determined that he does not qualify as a public servant under Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act or Section 376(2)(b) of the IPC.
The High Court further said that Sengar cannot come within the four corners of Section 5(p) of the POCSO Act, which punishes a person in “position of trust or authority” for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
This prompted the CBI to approach the apex court The central agency contended before the top court that the High Court erred in holding that the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 5(c) of the POCSO Act was not made out against Sengar on the ground that he was not a public servant.