Bengaluru, Dec. 25 -- The Delhi High Court's decision to suspend the life sentence of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case has triggered legal and public debate, not just because of the seeming injustice of it all, but because it relies on a technical yet far-reaching question of statutory interpretation: is a legislator a "public servant" under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

At the heart of the controversy lies the court's prima facie finding that Sengar, despite being an elected MLA at the time of the offence, does not fall within the category of "public servant" under Section 5(c) of POCSO or Section 376(2)(b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which provides f...