The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to suspend the 10-year sentence imposed on expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar for his role in the custodial death of the Unnao rape survivor’s father.Justice Ravinder Dudeja dismissed Sengar’s application for interim relief, holding that no case was made out for suspending the sentence. The court made it clear that Sengar’s prolonged time in jail could not justify relief, particularly when delays in the appeal process were partly attributable to the multiple applications filed by him.The judge observed that instead of granting suspension, the appropriate course would be to ensure that the appeal itself was heard without further delay. The matter has now been listed for detailed hearing on February 3.Sengar was sentenced on March 13, 2020, by a trial court to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh in connection with the death of the survivor’s father while in police custody. The trial court had taken a stern view, saying that there was no room for leniency in a case involving the killing of a family’s sole breadwinner.The same judgment had also handed down 10-year prison terms to Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh Sengar, and five others found guilty of their involvement in the incident.According to the prosecution, the rape survivor’s father was arrested under the Arms Act at Sengar’s behest and subsequently died in custody on April 9, 2018, as a result of alleged police brutality. The case is linked to the broader Unnao rape scandal, in which Sengar was convicted of abducting and raping the minor survivor in 2017.While the trial court stopped short of convicting the accused of murder under the Indian Penal Code, it awarded the maximum punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304, concluding that the death was caused without any specific intent to kill.Sengar’s appeals against both his life sentence in the 2019 rape conviction and the 2020 custodial death judgment are currently pending before the High Court.Earlier, on December 23, 2025, the High Court had temporarily suspended Sengar’s life sentence in the rape case during the pendency of his appeal. However, that relief was stayed by the Supreme Court on December 29, 2025, following which he continues to remain in custody.