‘Deeply distressed’: Unnao rape survivor after expelled BJP leader granted conditional bail by Delhi HC

THe Unnao dishonor caseful subsister on tues staged a dissent at India Gate hours after the Delhi high court suspended the jail term of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar and granted him conditional bail. She was briefly detained by Delhi Police after protesting for around an hour and was released at the Kartavya Path police station.The 24-year-old survivor, accompanied by her mother and activist Yogita Bhayana, expressed deep distress over the court order and demanded justice.“I am extremely upset by what has happened today in the court,” the survivor told HT while travelling to India Gate for the protest. She said she felt “extremely unsafe” after learning about Sengar’s bail conditions.The Delhi high court on Tuesday suspended Sengar’s life sentence for the 2017 Unnao rape case, ruling he had already served more than the maximum punishment under the POCSO Act as it existed when the offence was committed.However, Sengar remains in prison as he is serving a 10-year sentence for the murder of the survivor’s father in judicial custody in 2018.Although the court has restricted Sengar from coming within a five-kilometre radius of her, the survivor expressed concerns about indirect threats. “He is a powerful man. He would get his men to do his dirty work for him. When my car met with an accident in which two of my relatives and my lawyer died in 2019, Sengar didn’t do it himself. His henchmen did. Now that he is out, we are all unsafe,” she said.The survivor, a Delhi resident, has been granted court-ordered protection and has five to 11 CRPF officials with her at all times.The HC directed the area DCP to ensure the victim’s protection and the state to provide her accommodation. It said the CRPF should continue providing security to the survivor.Her mother said she and her three children — two daughters and an 11-year-old son — had protection until March this year but it was withdrawn. “He will get us all killed now,” she said, expressing fear that even those assigned to protect her daughter could pose a threat.The survivor alleged that her husband was beaten by a group of men in Azamgarh on November 30, and she suspects Sengar’s involvement. “My husband is supportive but after seeing all this and after being beaten up last month, he is also upset. He is scared for the lives of our children,” she said.The survivor was 17 when she was allegedly gang-raped on multiple occasions by Sengar and other men. She has been shuttling between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for years. After marrying in 2023, she had seen some stability. She now has a two-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son.“Since the age of 17, my life has been a struggle. After having a daughter and especially now, after Sengar’s release, I am scared for my daughter. Is this the world I brought her in? Where a rape survivor has nowhere to go and rapists walk free?” she said.The survivor’s father died in police custody in 2018, while her paternal uncle was jailed in an old assault case. “My father was killed in police custody. My uncle was jailed. My brother is 11 years old. I and my sisters have been dealing with this trauma for years and the high court’s order is a big blow to us,” she said.The survivor said she has been advised by her lawyers to approach the Supreme Court to challenge Sengar’s bail. “The high court order came just before the winter break. It seems to be all planned. We will now go to the Supreme Court and while I have been told that nothing may happen, I have full faith in the highest court in the country,” she said.Sengar was convicted in December 2019 for the rape and sentenced to life imprisonment. In March 2020, he received a 10-year sentence for the father’s murder.In 2021, a court discharged Sengar in the 2019 truck accident case that killed two of the survivor’s relatives. A CBI probe found no criminal conspiracy.