The Delhi High Court on Monday denied bail for Unnao rape-accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar's ten-year sentence over the custodial death of the survivor's father.
According to Justice Ravinder Dodeja, though the former BJP MLA had suffered a long period of incarceration, his bail plea was rejected for a number of reasons.
Unnao custodial death case: Delhi High Court refused to suspend the sentence of Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao custodial death case.
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2026
This case is related to the custodial death of the father of the Unnao rape victim
One of these reasons was Sengar's counsel filing multiple applications in the appeal to suspend his conviction.
"Purpose would be served if the appeal is heard expeditiously," the court added when it declared that relief could not be offered on grounds of delay. The matter was listed for further hearing on February 3, as per a PTI report.
Justice Dodeja added that there had also been no subsequent developments in the custodial death case after Sengar's conviction that could persuade the court to exercise discretion in the appellant's favour.
This comes after the Delhi HC itself suspended his sentence and granted him conditional bail in the rape case on December 23, 2025. However, he was still forced to remain in jail due to the custodial death case.
#WATCH | Delhi | Supreme Court stays the order of Delhi High Court, which suspended the life sentence of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case of a minor girl
— ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2025
Mehmood Pracha, Advocate for Unnao rape case survivor, says, "I… pic.twitter.com/zh0KKfsHBN
This led to the Supreme Court staying the conditional bail on December 29, 2025, on grounds of what it described as a legally troubling turn in one of India’s most haunting criminal cases.
Notably, Sengar had been sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment by a trial court—and was also slapped with a fine of Rs 10 lakh—in the March 13, 2020 case of the custodial death of the survivor's father.
The trial court had said back then that "no leniency" could be shown for killing a family's "sole bread earner". The survivor's father had been brought to custody under the Arms Act, and died in custody on April 9, 2018 after police brutality.
It had also sentenced Sengar's brother, Atul Singh Sengar, and five others to a ten-year jail term for their role in the custodial killing.
The former BJP MLA's appeal against a December 2019 judgement on the 2017 rape, which convicts him and sentences him to life imprisonment, is pending in the Delhi HC, the report added.
