Death of Unnao rape victim's father: Delhi HC grants interim bail to Kuldeep Sengar
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, serving 10 years' imprisonment for the death of the Unnao rape victim's father in custody, to attend his daughter's wedding.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma suspended the sentence from January 27 to February 10 and said a division bench of the high court has already granted interim relief to Sengar, and sufficient conditions have been imposed on him.
On January 16, the division bench granted interim bail to Sengar in a case in which he is serving life term for raping a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017.
Sengar, represented by senior advocate P K Dubey and lawyer Kanhaiya Singhal, informed the court that wedding rituals and ceremonies would be held in Gorakhpur and Lucknow, and being the only male family member, he has to make the arrangements.
During the hearing, the victim's sister, who was present in the court, opposed the plea for interim release.
The high court was told that the 'sagan' ceremony of the leader's daughter is scheduled on January 18 and the marriage is fixed for February 8.
Sengar's appeal challenging the trial court's verdict in the Unnao rape case is pending in the high court. He has sought quashing of the December 2019 judgement of the trial court which sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
The girl was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017 when she was a minor.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment, besides imposition of a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the case of death of the rape victim's father in custody. The court had also awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others.
The father of the rape victim was arrested at the behest of Sengar in a case under Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018.
The trial court, which did not hold the accused guilty of murder under the IPC, awarded the maximum sentence for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to the convicts under section 304 of the IPC after holding that there was no intention to kill.
The case was transferred to Delhi from the trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the directions of the Supreme Court on August 1, 2019.
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Efforts on to bring Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna back to India: Home Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Friday said efforts are on to bring Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of sexual abuse against women, back to India.
He also asserted that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case was functioning efficiently.
The 33-year-old Prajwal, who is the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda, is facing charges of multiple instances of sexually abusing women.
The scandal has raised a political storm with the ruling Congress and BJP-JD(S) engaged in a slugfest.
Prajwal reportedly left for Germany on April 27 and is still at large.
He was BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha segment, which went to polls in the first phase on April 26.
"Procedures are on, until we secure him, bring him back here and take action in accordance with law, they will continue. We will neither slow it nor stop it," Parameshwara told reporters on questions about the Interpol's Blue Corner Notice that was issued against Prajwal.
On BJP alleging that the government was "responsible" for Prajwal's "escape" from the country, the Minister said, "They will say it, they have to say such things. They cannot say the government is doing a good job. But we have a responsibility as a government. Such incidents cannot be taken lightly. We will do our job."
Accusing the Congress government of trying to tarnish the reputation of Deve Gowda's family instead of ensuring justice to victims of alleged sex videos scandal case involving Prajwal, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy had recently alleged that every bit of information on the investigation is being sent to a Congress MLA of Mandya district, but not the Home Minister.
Reacting to this, Parameshwara said: "Kumaraswamy is also well aware, several things we cannot bring to the public domain, because the investigation is on. Who will brief the Mandya MLA? Making such allegations is easy. We all have responsibility and we are functioning with responsibility, and we are not under any compulsions."
"I want to tell him (Kumaraswamy) that SIT is working efficiently, and whatever they have to brief me or the Chief Minister, they will brief. Let there be no doubts about it," he said.
