‘Still waiting for justice’: Kuldeep Sengar’s daughter pens open letter after SC stays Delhi HC order
A three-judge stay by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices JK Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih set aside the Supreme Court order, stating that Sengar was in jail for another case. It was stated that the implementation of the Supreme Court decision will be stopped and Sengar will not be released from prison.
“To the Honorable Authorities of the Republic of India, I am writing this letter as a girl who is exhausted, scared, slowly losing her faith but still holding on to hope as she has nowhere else to go. My family and I have waited for eight years. Silently…. – Dr Ishita Sengar (@IshitaSengar) December 29, 2025”
In an X post, Sengar’s daughter referred to the Sengar family as “silent” for eight years, while implying that the SC’s decision was based on public outrage.
She wrote: “I write this letter as a girl exhausted, scared, and slowly losing faith, but still clinging to hope because there was nowhere else to go. For eight years, my family and I waited. Quietly. Patiently. Trusting that if we did things ‘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 outrage.”
She also claimed that despite her trust in institutions, she received rape and death threats and was eventually silenced.
“I am writing today because that belief is being broken. Before my words are even heard, my identity is reduced to a label: ‘BJP MLA’s daughter’. It is as if this erases my humanity. As if this alone makes me seem undeserving of justice, dignity and even the right to speak. People who have never met me, who have never read a single document, who have not even looked at a single court report, have decided that my life has no value. Countless times over these years on social media, I have been told that I should not be raped, murdered or raped just for existing.” “This hatred is not abstract. It is brutal. And something inside you breaks when you realize that many people believe you don’t even deserve to live.”
He claimed that no official had heard of them even though his father was an MLA in Unnao and was called “strong”. He wrote: “We chose silence not because we were powerful, but because we believed in the institutions. We did not protest. We did not shout in television debates. We did not burn puppets or trending hashtags. We waited because we believed that the truth did not need spectacle. What did this silence cost us? Our dignity was stripped away, piece by piece. We were harassed, mocked and dehumanized every day for eight years. We were exhausted and exhausted financially, emotionally and spiritually. We physically run from one office to the next, We write letters, we call, we beg to make our voices heard. There is no authority we do 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 ‘strong.’ I ask you, what kind of power keeps a family silent for eight years? What kind of power means watching your name dragged through the mud day after day while you sit silently, trusting a system that seems unwilling to even acknowledge your existence?” social media post added.
He claimed that the sense of fear among members of the media and their institutions had been “pushed into silence”, while claiming that no one was looking at the facts.
He wrote: “It’s not just injustice that scares me today, it’s fear. A deliberately manufactured fear, a fear so loud that it forces judges, journalists, institutions, and ordinary citizens to 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’s look at the facts.’ Watching this unfold has shaken me to my core. If the truth can be so easily drowned out by anger and misinformation, where does someone like me go? If oppression and “What protection does the ordinary citizen really have if public outrage begins to overshadow evidence and due process?”
“I’m not writing this letter to threaten anyone. I’m not writing this letter to gain sympathy. I’m writing because I’m terrified, and I still believe that someone somewhere cares enough to listen to me. We don’t ask for a favor. We don’t ask for protection because of who we are. We want justice because we are human. Please let the law speak without fear. Please let the evidence be examined without pressure. Please let the truth be seen as the truth, even if it is not accepted. I am still Please don’t make me regret this belief, Sincerely, I am still a girl waiting for justice,” the open letter read.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the Delhi High Court order that suspended the life sentence of Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
“Issue notice. We have heard Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of CBI and Senior Advocate for the convict… The counter-case will be filed within four weeks. We are aware that when a convict or a prisoner is released, such orders are not normally stayed by this court without hearing such persons. However, in view of the peculiar facts that the convict has been convicted of a separate offence, we stay the implementation of the Delhi High Court order dated December 23 and therefore the defendant will not be released under the said order,” he ordered.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present on behalf of the CBI during the hearing, said that for the purposes of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO Act), a ‘public servant’ means a person who is in a dominant position with respect to the child and abuse of this position will be subject to the provisions of aggravated offences. He alleged that Sengar, who was a powerful MLA in the region during the relevant period, clearly exercised such dominance.
Senior advocates Siddharth Dave and N Hariharan, appearing for Sengar, opposed the CBI’s arguments, arguing that an MLA cannot be treated as a public servant for the purposes of aggravated offenses under POCSO.
However, the bench expressed concerns that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the term “public servant” under Section 5 of the POCSO Act may be erroneous and give immunity to MPs.
Please refer to this definition of public servant under POCSO… We are concerned that a police officer or patwari will be a public servant under the Act, but MLA and MP will not be exempted,” the bench observed.
