New Delhi [India], December 29 : Daughter of 2017 Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Sengar called for justice in an open letter on social media, after the Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court's decision, which suspended the life sentence of the expelled BJP MLA.
A three-judge vacation of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices JK Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih stayed the High Court order, noting that Sengar is in jail for another case. It said the operation of the High Court order shall be stayed, and Sengar shall not be released from prison.
https://x.com/IshitaSengar/status/2005546070848520540?s=20
In an X post, Sengar's daughter hinted that the SC's decision was based on public outrage, while referring to the Sengar family as "voiceless" for eight years.
She wrote, "I am writing this letter as a daughter who is exhausted, frightened, and slowly losing faith, but still holding on to hope because there is nowhere else left to go. For eight years, my family and I have waited. Quietly. Patiently. Believing that if we did everything 'the right way,' the truth would eventually speak for itself. We trusted the law. We trusted the Constitution. We trusted that justice in this country does not depend on noise, hashtags, or public anger."
Further, she alleged that she received rape and death threats, ultimately silencing her, while she believed in the institutions.
"Today, I write because that faith is breaking. Before my words are even heard, my identity is reduced to a label-- 'the daughter of a BJP MLA.' As if that erases my humanity. As if that alone makes me undeserving of fairness, dignity, or even the right to speak. People who have never met me, never read a single document, never looked at a single court record, have decided that my life has no value. Over these years, I have been told countless times on social media that I should be raped, killed, or punished simply for existing. This hatred is not abstract. It is daily. It is relentless. And it breaks something inside you when you realise that so many people believe you do not even deserve to live," she added.
Even though her father was an MLA in Unnao, she claimed that despite being called "powerful", no authorities heard them.
She wrote, "We chose silence not because we were powerful, but because we believed in institutions. We did not hold protests. We did not shout in television debates. We did not burn effigies or trend hashtags. We waited because we believed that truth does not need spectacle. What did that silence cost us? We have been stripped of our dignity piece by piece. We have been abused, mocked, and dehumanised every single day for eight years. We have been drained financially, emotionally, and physically, running from one office to another, writing letters, making calls, begging to be heard. There is no door we did not knock on. No authority we did not approach. No media house we did not write to."
"And yet no one listened. Not because the facts were weak. Not because the evidence was lacking. But because our truth was inconvenient. People call us 'powerful.' I ask you what kind of power leaves a family voiceless for eight years? What kind of power means watching your name dragged through mud daily while you sit silently, trusting a system that seems unwilling to even acknowledge your existence?" the social media post added.
She alleged a sense of fear among media persons and institutions, "pressured into silence," while she claimed that no one looked at facts.
She wrote, "What scares me today is not just injustice, it is fear. A fear deliberately manufactured. A fear so loud that judges, journalists, institutions, and ordinary citizens are all pressured into silence. A fear designed to ensure that no one dares to stand with us, no one dares to listen to us, and no one dares to say, 'Let us look at the facts.' Watching this unfold has shaken me deeply. If truth can be drowned so easily by outrage and misinformation, where does someone like me go? If pressure and public frenzy begin to overshadow evidence and due process, what protection does an ordinary citizen truly have?"
"I am not writing this letter to threaten anyone. I am not writing this letter to gain sympathy. I am writing because I am terrified and because I still believe someone, somewhere, will care enough to listen. We are not asking for a favour. We are not asking for protection because of who we are. We are asking for justice because we are human. Please let the law speak without fear. Please let the evidence be examined without pressure. Please let truth be treated as truth even when it is unpopular. I am a daughter who still believes in this country. Please do not make me regret that faith. Respectfully, A daughter still waiting for justice," the open letter read.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court stayed the operation of the Delhi High Court order, which suspended the life sentence of Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
"Issue notice. We have heard Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for CBI and Senior Advocate for the convict... The counter will be filed in four weeks. We are conscious of the fact that when a convict or an undertrial has been released, such orders are not ordinarily stayed by this court without hearing such persons. But in view of peculiar facts where the convict is convicted for a separate offence, we stay the operation of the Delhi High Court order dated December 23, and thus the respondent shall not be released pursuant to the said order," ordered the bench.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, said that for the purposes of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), a 'public servant' would mean a person who is in a dominant position with respect to the child, and misuse of that position would attract the aggravated offence provisions. He contended that Sengar, being a powerful MLA in the area at the relevant time, clearly exercised such dominance.
Senior advocates Siddharth Dave and N Hariharan, appearing for Sengar, opposed the CBI's contentions, arguing that an MLA cannot be treated as a public servant for the purposes of aggravated offences under POCSO.
The bench, however, expressed concern that the High Court's interpretation of the term "public servant" under Section 5 of the POCSO Act could be erroneous and could confer immunity on lawmakers."
Please see this definition of public servant under POCSO... we are worried that a constable or patwari will be a public servant under the Act, but MLA and MP will not be and get exempted," observed the bench.