Rathore fails to get interim relief from High Court

13 Jan '10, Wednesday, Vrinda Sharma, The Hindu

CHANDIGARH: The former Haryana Director-General of Police, S.P.S. Rathore, convicted of molesting a teenaged girl, on Tuesday failed to secure interim relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in connection with the fresh first information reports filed by the victim’s father and brother.

Rathore moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the new cases after the Panchkula sessions court rejected his bail plea on Saturday. Justice Sabina asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file its reply on January 18.

The FIRs accused him of attempt to murder, wrongful confinement, giving false evidence and forging the post-mortem report on the budding tennis player, who committed suicide three years after she was molested. The cases were registered by the Haryana police and subsequently transferred to the CBI.

Rathore’s counsel and wife Abha Rathore sought anticipatory bail for him and the quashing of the three fresh FIRs saying these were registered under media pressure.
Assistant Solicitor-General and CBI Special Public Prosecutor Anmol Rattan Sidhu said the agency needed a week’s time to file a reply as the three FIRs were registered only on Monday evening after the cases were transferred from the Haryana police, who had entrusted the probe to a Special Investigation Team.

Justice Sabina did not grant Rathore interim bail, in the event of his arrest, till the next hearing on January 18. This gives the CBI the right to arrest him.
Meanwhile, the district and sessions court here admitted Rathore’s appeal against his conviction by a CBI special court here in the 1990 molestation case.

The court issued notice to the CBI. Rathore’s application for extension of bail will be heard on Wednesday as he did not appear on Tuesday stating he was not well.
Rathore moved the sessions court on Monday against the December 29, 2008 order of the special CBI court, which held him guilty of molesting the budding tennis player in 1990. He was awarded a six-month jail sentence and a fine.

Judicial custody

In another development, the Panchkula district and sessions court remanded to 14-day judicial custody Gajender Singh, a proclaimed offender, who was arrested during the investigation of cases against Rathore.

The Haryana police nabbed him in old auto theft cases, in which the brother of the molestation victim was implicated allegedly at the behest of Rathore. Gajender Singh, who was nabbed in Pune last week, was brought here on Monday evening.

“Gajender Singh has been brought here in connection with the previous cases of car theft and he has nothing to do with the molestation case,” said his lawyer Dinesh Jagda.

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/13/stories/2010011354771000.htm