Kuldeep Singh Sengar (File photo)
NEW DELHI: The sister of the Unnao rape survivor on Tuesday criticised the Delhi high court for granting bail to convict and former BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar and suspending his life sentence in the case.Also Read | Unnao rape case: Delhi HC suspends jail term of Kuldeep Sengar; sets condition for bailThe woman alleged that Sengar’s release would endanger her family’s lives.”I am not happy about this. He killed my uncle and then my father. Then this incident happened with my sister. He has been released, but we’re still in danger. He killed my uncle and then my father. He (Sengar) has been released, but we’re still in danger,” she told news agency ANI. The woman added that while the court may have released Sengar, it should at least put her family behind bars for their “safety.”“My sister is in distress. If something happens to my family, will the court take responsibility? I have a brother—who knows what they might do to him? Many of his men are roaming around outside, threatening us. If we dare file a police complaint, they will kill us. That is why we do not leave our home out of fear,” she said.Earlier on Tuesday, a Delhi high court bench comprising Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar granted conditional bail to Kuldeep Singh Sengar and suspended his sentence for the duration of the pendency of his appeal challenging his December 2019 conviction and life sentence by a trial court. The conditions of his bail include furnishing a Rs 15-lakh personal bond with three sureties of the same amount, not entering within a five-kilometre radius of the survivor’s residence, and refraining from threatening or influencing her or her mother.On August 1, 2019, over two years after the ghastly June 2017 crime, the Supreme Court had transferred the rape case and other related matters from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.Sengar’s appeal against his conviction in the case relating to the custodial death of the survivor’s father is also pending before the high court. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in that case and has sought suspension of the sentence, citing the substantial time he has already spent in jail.
