India, May 15 -- The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Delhi High Court order that had suspended the jail sentence of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, observing that it does not prima facie endorse the "hyper-technical view" taken by the high court that Sengar could not strictly be termed a public servant for attracting the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also directed the high court to promptly decide Sengar's appeal against conviction, preferably within two months. The top court added that if the appeal is not ...