The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by rape victim Unnao seeking enhancement of the sentence awarded to former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in a case related to her father’s death. He sought the death penalty for Sengar.
Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja observed that she failed to show “sufficient reason” for the delay of 1,945 days, news agency PTI reported.
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What happened?
Rape victim Unnao’s father was arrested on Sengar’s orders and died in police custody on 9 April 2018.
Sengar was convicted in December 2019 of the rape of a minor victim and also the custodial death of the victim’s father. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the rape case and sent to prison for 10 years in the custodial death case, the Bar and Bench said.
On February 19, the court issued a notice of survivor’s plea to Sengar and the other convicts seeking leniency for the delay of more than 1,940 days in filing an appeal against the 2020 order of conviction and sentence.
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She requested that their sentences be increased by 10 years in prison in the death penalty case.
The appeal demanded that Sengar and the other convicts be found guilty under Section 302 of the IPC for murder and sentenced to death, and the court’s decision finding them guilty of murder not amounting to murder should be reversed, PTI reported.
What did the Delhi HC rule?
According to the Bar and Bench, the court noted that the statute of limitations for filing an appeal against the judgment expired in May 2022.
The judgment of the Tis Hazari Sessions Court sentencing Sengar to life imprisonment was delivered in March 2020, while this appeal was filed in the Delhi High Court in September 2025.
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The court ruled that the appeal against the trial court’s 2020 decision to convict and sentence Kuldeep Sengar, his brother Jaideep Sengar and others in the case was filed after an “unexplained” delay of 1,945 days.
Terming it a case of “willful inaction and negligence”, the court noted that the deceased’s daughter was aware of the outcome and “actively participated” in the related proceedings, but “consciously chose not to avail herself of the legal remedy within the prescribed period of limitation” despite having legal advice from her lawyer, PTI reported.
According to the report, the court added that hearing a delayed appeal to increase the conviction and sentence would seriously harm the rights of the accused, as he would be exposed to the uncertainty of protracted litigation and the possibility of aggravated criminal consequences long after the trial.
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“The reasons given in the application, namely financial constraints, accommodation issues, alleged physical weakness and allegations of threats or harassment, do not inspire confidence at the stage of consideration of the condonation of delay,” the court said, according to PTI.
“These reasons are vague in nature, unsupported by any documentary material and do not reveal the period during which such circumstances prevailed. Mere allegations without substantiation cannot constitute ‘sufficient reason’,” the court added.
“The delay, which is egregious, unexplained and attributable to negligence, deserves to be dismissed. Since the application for condonation of delay is dismissed, the superseded appeal is accordingly dismissed as time-barred,” the court ruled.
What did the two sides say to each other in court?
Appearing for Jaideep Sengar, senior advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey said that the victim participated in the proceedings from the very beginning and there was no reason to excuse the delay in filing the appeal.
The survivor’s counsel, Mehmood Pracha, previously claimed that she lived in adverse conditions and it was a “miracle” that she was able to prosecute other cases.
Kuldeep Sengar’s lawyer, Advocate Kanhaiya Singhal, said the case was an example of willful inaction.
A lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the agency accepted the conviction order and the sentence passed by the trial court and kept the matter for trial.
Who is Kuldeep Sengar?
Kuldeep Sengar was convicted of raping a minor survivor and sentenced to life imprisonment on 20 December 2019.
The girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.
On 13 March 2020, Kuldeep Sengar along with his brother Jaideep Sengar alias Atul Singh was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the trial court which also imposed a fine of ₹10 lakh, in case of death of the rape survivor’s father.
The girl’s father was arrested on the alleged orders of the accused under the Arms Act and died in custody on 9 April 2018 due to police brutality.
The court said that “no leniency” could be shown for the killing of the family’s “sole breadwinner”.
However, the trial court did not find the accused guilty of murder under IPC and awarded the maximum sentence of 10 years to those convicted under Section 304 of the IPC for the offense of manslaughter not amounting to murder, after finding that there was no murder.
The case was transferred to Delhi from the Uttar Pradesh trial on 1 August 2019 on the direction of the Supreme Court.
