“People think that because I am not crying, I am not in pain. But ask me how pained I am,” the 2017 Unnao rape survivor says as tears well up in her eyes.
Since the legal battle began in Unnao, it has taken five lives from her world, left her body stitched together with metal and scars, and confined her to a life lived under constant protection.
One year after the accused in her case was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, she remains anxious and on edge. She is on her phone documenting social media campaigns against her, scanning news reports about her case, and planning protests. “This does not stop. It is unrelenting,” she says to The Quint as we prepare to sit for an interview.
The accused in the case is Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) who the court convicted of raping the survivor, then a minor, when she went to his home to find work on the evening of 4 June 2017.
The case returned to public attention after the survivor protested the Delhi High Court’s decision to grant Sengar bail on 23 December 2025, during the pendency of his appeal against conviction.
The High Court suspended the sentence after it set aside the trial court’s order that the offence, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, was an “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” as it was committed by a “public servant” who holds a position of authority. The Delhi High Court, however, ruled that as an MLA, Sengar was not a “public servant” under the definition of the Indian Penal Code.
The bail order was challenged in the Supreme Court, which suspended the bail granted by the Delhi High Court on December 29, 2025. The next hearing in the case is expected in the last week of January.
The Survivor's Ordeal
While she awaits the next hearing and plots her legal steps, the survivor is distraught. Not only because of the uncertainty that lies ahead but because of what the case has already cost her.
Since she began fighting the case, five people connected to her have died.
Her father was picked up on April 3 and was thrashed and jailed in Unnao, where he eventually died on April 9. On April 7, she and her mother set themselves on fire in front of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home due to inaction by authorities. They were rescued.
In March 2020, Sengar and six others, including two police officials, were convicted in the case. Sengar continues to serve ten years' imprisonment after being sentenced for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Sengar's bail plea in the case has been heard and has been reserved for over a month.
On 28 July 2019, she lost both her aunts in a fatal car crash that raised suspicions. The truck involved had a blackened number plate and the driver belonged to Sengar’s village.
“I was on a ventilator for six months after the accident. When I gained consciousness and asked about them for a long time, my family members did not tell me. When I went to the village, someone told me. They said ‘Don’t you know your aunts died in the accident?” she says, her voice quivering again.
The survivor’s advocate, who was a friend of the family, Mahendra Singh, was also in the car during the crash. Singh was admitted to the hospital for treatment. He died a few weeks later.
The survivor continues to feel the aftermath of that near-fatal crash.
“I have 250 stitches, 60 stitches on my head, 20 stitches on my forehead. My body is broken. I have a rod in my hand and leg,” she says.Unnao rape survivor
“Till now,” she says, “we have not been able to conduct the 13-day mourning period ritual for any of them.” A Hindu religious ritual marking the end of the formal mourning period after a death, where family members pray that the departed soul achieves liberation.
Victim of a Targeted Campaign
Recently, she says it’s been overwhelming to deal with the social media campaigns against her. She says scores of nameless people have been using AI (artificial intelligence) to morph her images.
“My photos and videos are being manipulated by using AI (Artificial Intelligence). The Central Police Reserve Force (CRPF) officials travel with me. Everyone knows this, the government and the home minister also know. People have used AI to show that I am touching the CRPF officials inappropriately. Is it right for the public to do this?” she asks.
As she scans through Facebook and Instagram, she says some people are distributing her photos so she can be identified and lives under constant fear and threat. “They also place my photos as their display picture, showing it to the world… This is how I am being treated.”
This online targeting, pictures of which were shared with The Quint, also raises serious legal concerns. Revealing the identity of a rape survivor is a criminal offence under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code. The punishment for this is up to two years and/or a fine.
The survivor had tried to rebuild her life by learning skills so she could earn a living and take care of her two children, aged 1 and 2 years old. However, that stopped.
“Where I used to go to learn these things, learning how to sew, those people are also scared. They told me, ‘We also have children and families…. if they get to know that you are learning sewing, computer, and parlour work, then we can also be threatened.”Unnao rape survivor
She says when she goes to sleep at night, she wishes she were normal. “I keep wishing I were a normal girl who could study, wear a coat and stand in a court fighting my fight and that of other children and women. My dream was to be an advocate and fight for people and children,” she says.
Unsure if her dream will come true, right now her focus is on the case and the safety of her family.
“I cannot bring my father back, nor my other family members. What I want is for my family to be kept safe for a lifetime. My three sisters, brother, mother, husband and in-laws. I cannot bring them back if something happens to them,” she says.