Sexual violence, the state, and the justice system: An unfolding tale of moral degradation in India

On December 23, 2025, the Delhi High Court (HC) issued an order suspending the life sentence of Kuldeep Singh Sengarconvicted in 2019 for the rape of a minor Dalit girl, and for the death of her father, following an assault in custody by Sengar's brother and others -and approving his bail application in the rape case [1].On December 29, 2025, after public protests, the Supreme Court of India (SC) stayed the Delhi High Court order [2], giving some respite to the survivor and her family.Even so, the Delhi HC order raises several concerns which could weaken public trust in the justice delivery system, particularly regarding sexual crimes against women and children.The Delhi HC decided that, regardless of the serious crime, as a legislator, Sengar could not be considered a "public servant".Hence, a life sentence for child rape by a public servant, mandated by the law, was not applicable to Sengar.Further, as he had already served jail time for over 7 years -the minimum sentence for rape of a child -the HC remitted the sentence [1].This Delhi HC order cannot but remind us of other high-profile cases of sexual crimes against women in the recent past.I will refer to two more such cases with telling similarities as to the socio-political backgrounds of the convicts, and of the women they attacked and abused, and to the handling of these cases through the justice delivery process.All three cases reveal the political influence of the convicts in their local areas, accounting for the blatant executive overreach by legislators or local institutions reversing judicial decisions in their favour; the timing of parole applications and appeals filed by the convicts, and the subsequent favourable orders by sections of the judiciary on technicalities -all with absolutely zero regard for the impact on the vulnerable and terrified survivors and their families and witnesses.