NEW DELHI: "I wanted to kill myself then and there, but I stopped after thinking about my family," those were the words of the Unnao rape survivor on Tuesday evening, as she sat on the lawns of India Gate hours after a Delhi high court order granted bail to former Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 rape case.The survivor, accompanied by her mother and women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana, staged a protest at the Delhi landmark, saying the court’s decision had left her feeling unsafe and betrayed by the system.
Speaking to news agency ANI, the survivor alleged that the timing of the bail was politically motivated, linking it to the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. “Injustice has been done to us. Elections are coming and he has been released on bail so that his wife can contest the polls,” she said. “If such a rape accused comes out, how will we be safe?”She demanded that the bail be cancelled, saying her family was living in fear since the order was passed.
Despite her anguish, the survivor said she still believed in the judicial process and would approach the Supreme Court. “I have faith in the Supreme Court. We are scared that he has been released,” she said.
Delhi Police later removed the protesters from the India Gate premises. Visuals showed the survivor, her mother and the activist being carried to a police bus as they pleaded with officers to allow them to continue their protest.
Women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana questioned the grounds on which Sengar was granted bail, saying the survivor and her family had been isolated throughout their long legal battle.“They have faced difficulties from the beginning. What has happened today that the accused was given bail?” she asked. “Rapists are getting bail, and innocents are being kept in jail. After his release, the family is under threat.”The survivor’s sister also spoke out against the bail order, claiming that unidentified men had been seen roaming near their house and threatening family members. “He killed my uncle and then my father. Then this happened to my sister,” she said, referring to the chain of cases linked to Sengar. “He has been released, but we are still in danger. At least if we were in jail, we would be alive.”On Tuesday, the Delhi high court suspended Sengar’s sentence in the rape case while his appeal is pending.
A CBI court had convicted him for raping a minor and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The division bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar granted the relief on the condition that he furnish a bail bond of Rs 15 lakh.However, Sengar will remain in custody for now, as he has not been granted bail in a separate case related to the custodial death of the survivor’s father. He was sentenced to 10 years in that case and his appeal, along with an applicatin for suspension of sentence, is still pending before the Delhi high court.