Fact Check: Viral Image Claiming Kuldeep Sengar Was Welcomed With a Garland Is Fake

A fresh legal battle has emerged in the high-profile Unnao rape case after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s order suspending the life sentence of convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former BJP MLA. The Delhi High Court, on 23 December 2025, temporarily stayed Sengar’s sentence in the 2017 rape case and granted him conditional bail while his appeal against conviction is pending. The court noted that Sengar had already spent more than seven years in prison.

The petitioners have argued that the High Court failed to adequately consider the seriousness of the crime and ignored crucial evidence on record. They contended that the trial court’s detailed findings, which highlighted the brutal sexual assault of the survivor and the intimidation and harassment faced by her family, were not given due weight while suspending the sentence. The plea seeks an immediate stay on the High Court’s order and urges the Supreme Court to overturn the decision granting Sengar bail.

Amid this, an image has been circulating widely on social media claiming to show Kuldeep Sengar being welcomed with a garland at the gate of Tihar Jail. The caption accompanying the posts reads, “What kind of society is this that welcomes rapists by garlanding them?” The image triggered widespread outrage and criticism online. Here's the screenshot of the claim

Here's the archive of the claim

Fact Check:

The viral image claiming that Kuldeep Sengar was welcomed with a garland is false. Our investigation found that the image is AI-generated.

A close examination of the image revealed a “sparkle” watermark at the bottom-right corner, a feature commonly associated with images created using Google’s Gemini AI image generation tool. Additionally, the proportions and visual elements in the image appeared unrealistic, raising further suspicion about its authenticity. To confirm this, the image was analysed using Hive Moderation, an AI-detection tool, which flagged it as AI-generated with a 99.9 per cent confidence score.

Further investigation revealed that despite the Delhi High Court suspending his life sentence in the rape case, Kuldeep Sengar will continue to remain in jail. This is because he is also serving a separate 10-year prison sentence in connection with the custodial death of the rape survivor’s father. No bail has been granted to him in that case.

Moreover, reports confirm that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), along with the survivor’s family, has moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s order that suspended Sengar’s life sentence and granted him bail. There are no credible reports indicating his release from jail or any instance of him being welcomed or garlanded.

Hence, the claim that Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Sengar was welcomed with a garland is false, and the viral image circulating on social media is AI-generated.