The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted time to Atul Singh Sengar, who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for his role in the custodial killing of the father of the Unnao rape victim, to select a hospital in the capital for treatment while being in custodial parole.

A single-judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru while granting time to Atul Sengar, the brother of main convict and expelled BJP lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar, slated the matter for further hearing on August 18.

While the matter was being heard through video conferencing, counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apprised the court that the convict is an influential person and should only be granted custodial parole.

“…. he and his goons had beaten up the father of the prosecutrix (the rape victim) and a false case was registered against him (the father)… They are politically influential people and can influence others. He has been convicted for offences under 304 IPC,” said the CBI counsel.

He further argued why an appeal against the conviction has not been filed before applying for parole. Responding to the same, Atul Sengar’s counsel said he wanted to file an appeal but was unable to do so due to restricted functioning of the court.

Following the arguments, Justice Bakhru said: “You (Sengar) select the hospital for surgery in Delhi, we will give you custodial parole.”

The arguments and directions came in while the court was hearing an application filed by Atul Sengar, seeking eight weeks parole on the ground that he has multiple health issues and has to undergo surgery in Kanpur.

In March this year, Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court sentenced Kuldeep Sengar and six others to 10 years imprisonment for the death of Unnao rape survivor’s father. Sengar is already serving life imprisonment for raping the minor.

Kuldeep Sengar and his brother were also directed to give Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family of the victim for loss of their father. “There are four minor children involved, three girls and one boy. They have also been uprooted from native place,” the judge said.

Seven people, including the two Sengars and two police personnel, were held guilty for culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy earlier this month.

The case pertains to the death of the rape survivor’s father in custody on April 9, 2018. It was alleged that he was assaulted following a quarrel with some of the accused in the case.