Ishita Sengar, daughter of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who was convicted in the 2017 Unnao rape case, has written an emotional open letter seeking justice for her family after the Supreme Court stayed the bail granted to her father by the Delhi High Court.
In a long post shared on social media platform X, Ishita said she was writing “as a daughter who is exhausted, frightened, and slowly losing faith,” adding that her family has faced relentless threats and abuse for nearly eight years. She questioned public perceptions that label her family as “powerful”, asking what kind of power leaves a family “voiceless for eight years”.
The letter came amid widespread public approval of the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the Delhi High Court’s December 23 order, which had put Sengar’s life sentence on hold and granted him conditional bail while his appeal was pending. The apex court said that given the peculiar facts of the case, Sengar should not be released, and issued notice on the CBI’s plea challenging the bail.
Ishita alleged that her identity has been reduced to being “the daughter of a BJP MLA”, claiming that she has been subjected to extreme online abuse, including messages wishing sexual violence and death upon her. She said her family has been “stripped of dignity, abused, mocked, and dehumanised every single day” since the case began.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in December 2019 and sentenced to life imprisonment in the rape case. The Delhi High Court had earlier cited the period already spent in prison — more than seven years — while granting him bail, a move that triggered protests across the country, including demonstrations by women’s groups and the survivor herself.
The Supreme Court’s intervention has once again brought the case into sharp public focus, highlighting both the demand for accountability in crimes of sexual violence and the broader debate on the impact of prolonged, high-profile trials on the families of the accused.