‘How can they be unsafe?’ UP minister dismisses Unnao rape survivor’s fears after Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s bail

Amid a row over the Delhi high court’s conditional bail to expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao rape case, a minister in Uttar Pradesh urged the survivor’s family to not worry about their safety.

Citing the court’s directives over Kuldeep Sengar’s bail, UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said that the convict was asked to stay at least five kilometres away from the survivor’s family. “While protesting in Delhi, the police told the family that if the court has made this arrangement, then how can they be unsafe?” Rajbhar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The minister’s remarks came amid the rape survivor and family’s grave concerns over the suspension of Kuldeep Sengar’s jail term. Accompanied by her mother and activist Yogita Bhayana, the survivor even protested at the India Gate on Tuesday against the bail.

“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.

Kuldeep Sengar was convicted and given a life sentence in December 2019 for the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao in 2017. However, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the expelled BJP leader’s life sentence saying he had already served more than the maximum punishment under the POCSO Act.

The court order sparked fears among the Unnao rape survivor’s family despite the verdict restricting Sengar from coming within a five-kilometre radius of her. “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,” the survivor said.

The woman is 24 now and is a resident of Delhi. Following the conditional bail to Sengar, she has been granted court-ordered protection and has five to 11 CRPF officials with her at all times.

However, the survivor’s mother recently said that she and her three children had protection until March this year but it was withdrawn. “He will get us all killed now,” she said, expressing fear for her family’s safety.