The Unnao rape case survivor on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the Delhi High Court suspending the jail term of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Sengar, and asked why the security provided to her family lawyers and witnesses has been withdrawn.
AGENCIES
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (December 23, 2025) suspended the jail term of expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is serving life imprisonment after being convicted in the 2017 Unnao rape case. It also granted bail, while imposing several conditions.
A Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar ordered Sengar not to come within a 5 km radius of the victim’s residence in Delhi and not to threaten her or her mother.
It directed Sengar to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15 lakh with three sureties of like amount, not to come within a 5-km radius of the victim’s residence in Delhi and not to threaten her or her mother.
The expelled BJP leader has challenged a December 2019 trial court verdict in the rape case. He kidnapped the minor and raped her in 2017.
The Unnao rape case hit the headlines the same time when the BJP-led government was pushing the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao slogan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come under fire from his predecessor the late Manmohan Singh and the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his silence on the atrocities against women and girl-child across the country.
“When a child is raped… we cannot compare these incidents in numbers for different governments. How can we accept this?” Modi told the Indian diaspora during an interaction at the Central Hall Westminster in 2018.
Modi’s visit to London had come close to the rape and murder of an eight-year old child in Jammu’s Kathua, while the Unnao survivor was still fighting for justice.
India’s Opposition parties had held a protest at the Parliament.
This is how the events at Unnao have unfolded over nearly nine years:
4 June 2017: A minor girl met then BJP MLA from Unnao Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence requesting for a job, where she was allegedly raped.
11 June – 20 June 2017: The survivor was abducted by three men from Makhi village – Subham Singh, Brijesh Yadav and Awadh Narayan. She was allegedly sedated and gang raped for days.
20 June 2017: The survivor and her father filed an FIR against Singh, Yadav and Narayan under IPC sections 363, 366, 376 and 506 – related to rape, abduction and criminal intimidation.
22 June 2017: After alleged delay in medical examination, the survivor was sent to Delhi to live with her relatives.
August 2017: The survivor returned to Unnao to file an FIR against Sengar. Cops allegedly deterred them from naming the MLA. His name does not appear in the chargesheet filed later the same month.
February 2018: The survivor moved court for inclusion of Sengar’s name in the case.
3 April 2018: Sengar’s men allegedly assault the survivor’s father. They also file a complaint against him with the cops. Family filed a counter complaint against four men.
5 April 2018: Acting on the complaint lodged by Sengar’s men, the survivor’s father was arrested. He was also booked under the Arms Act.
8 April 2018: The survivor tried self-immolation outside the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s residence.
9 April 2018: The survivor’s father was found dead in police custody. Police claimed he was injured in a prison riot. Post mortem revealed 14 injuries including abrasions, contusions and bruises.
10 April 2018: Acting on the Uttar Pradesh DGP’s orders the crime branch arrests Atul Sengar, the MLA’s brother. A Special Investigation Team was announced to probe the rape case and the custodial death of the survivor’s father. Four men named in the assault on the father were arrested. The Makhi police station’s SHO Ashok Kumar Singh was suspended.
11 April 2018: SIT submitted a report to the state government.
12 April 2018: The case was transferred to the CBI. FIR registered against Sengar under IPC sections 363, 366 and 373, and also POCSO.
13 April 2018: CBI detained Sengar for interrogation. Allahabad High Court intervened saying the MLA’s immediate arrest was important. The CBI was given a deadline of 2 May to finish the probe. Sengar was remanded to CBI custody for seven days.
15 April 2018: Shashi Singh, a woman who took the survivor to Sengar’s home with the promise of a job, was arrested.
18 April 2018: The survivor and her mother gave statements before a magistrate under CrPC section 164. CBI said the survivor was 19 and considered dropping the POCSO charge. A key witness in the mysterious death of the survivor’s father, Yunus, was found dead.
May 2019: BJP MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj met Sengar after his win in the Lok Sabha polls to thank the MLA.
4 July 2019: The survivor’s uncle was sentenced to 10-years imprisonment in a nearly two decade old case filed by MLA Sangar’s brother Atul.
28 July 2019: Two aunts of the survivor were killed, the survivor and her lawyer injured when the car they were traveling in was hit by a truck on the way to Rae Bareilly. She suffered injuries in her head, ribs, lungs and a fracture in her leg.
Days before the “accident” the survivor wrote to the Chief Justice of India on her ordeal.
29 July 2019: An FIR was registered against Sengar and nine others in connection with the road accident at the Gurubaxganj police station.
30 July 2019: The survivor’s letter to the CJI became public.
31 July 2019: The Supreme Court took cognizance of the survivor’s letter.
1 August 2019: The apex court ordered the transfer of five cases related to the rape case to Delhi. The trial court was directed to complete the procedure within 45 days.
5 August 2019: Day-to-day hearing began at the Tis Hazari Court. The survivor was brought to AIIMS New Delhi from a Lucknow hospital.
9 August 2019: Charges framed against Sengar and co-accused Shashi Singh in the rape case.
11 September 2019: The survivor’s statement is recorded in a special temporary court set up at AIIMS.
25 September 2019: The survivor is discharged from AIIMS.
6 December 2019: The Delhi Commission for Women found accommodation for the survivor in Delhi on the trial court’s order.
10 December 2019: Trial court reserved judgment.
16 December 2019: Kuldeep Sengar was found guilty, while the co-accused Shashi Singh was acquitted.
20 December 2019: Sengar was sentenced to life imprisonment, and a fine of Rs. 25 lakh.
1 December 2020: The survivor’s lawyer Mahendra Singh died from injuries sustained in the road accident.
23 December 2025: A Delhi High Court division bench suspended Sengar’s sentence.