SC quashes Sengar’s bail, asks HC for fresh hearing

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday set aside Delhi high court order which suspended the jail sentence and granted bail to former BJP MLA Kuldip Singh Sengar, convicted of raping an alleged minor in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, and asked HC to hear the politician’s bail plea afresh during pendency of his appeal against conviction.Sengar’s counsel, senior advocate N Hariharan, told a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that his client had already spent 10 years behind bars and that multiple medical reports had estimated the age of the alleged rape survivor to be over 18 years to repudiate the prosecution’s claim that she was a minor. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI which has appealed against grant of bail by high court, said the MLA was a public servant and was in a “dominant position” to be rightly convicted by the trial court for aggravated form of sexual assault under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.He said since the sentence was till the end of his biological life, HC could not have suspended the sentence.The bench said since both Hariharan and Mehta were arguing that HC did not consider certain aspects of the case against Sengar prior to suspending the sentence, it would be better if HC heard arguments afresh from the accused and the prosecution before taking a decision on the plea for suspension of sentence during pendency of his appeal against conviction. The SC, which had stayed HC’s Dec 23 order on Dec 29 last year, clarified that HC should decide the plea for bail without being influenced by any order of the SC in this case. It said HC would endeavour to decide the bail plea prior to the summer vacation.