Unnao rape case: HC grants interim bail to Kuldeep Sengar for eye surgery

A bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar suspended his sentence, noting that Sengar's cataract surgery is fixed for Tuesday at the Aiims

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted interim bail till February 4 to expelled BJP leader and Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar for undergoing an eye surgery.

A bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar suspended his sentence, noting that Sengar's cataract surgery is fixed for Tuesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims) here.

The court directed him to surrender before the jail authorities on February 5.

We are of the opinion that the sentence warrants to be suspended for the purpose of applicant's medical procedure which is fixed for February 4, 2025 subject to conditions identical to those set forth in December 20, 2024 order. The applicant shall surrender on February 5 before the jail superintendent, the bench said.

The court was informed by the leader's counsel that Sengar's surgery was not performed earlier on the scheduled date due to circumstances beyond his control.

He submitted that two more days are needed as Sengar needs to be admitted to the AIIMS for the medical procedure which is now fixed for February 4.

The court had earlier also granted interim bail to the politician for the surgery.

The plea was opposed by the survivor's lawyer who argued that Sengar could not be given interim bail endlessly.

Sengar's plea for extension of interim bail, which formed part of his appeal against the December 2019 trial court's verdict in the rape case, is pending before the high court. He has sought setting aside of his conviction and sentence.

The minor girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017.

The rape case and other connected cases were transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.