A local court will hear on day-to-day basis from May 3 petitions of disgraced former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore challenging his conviction for molesting teenager and of CBI and the victim’s family seeking enhancement of his six months sentence.
The court will pronounce its verdict on the petitions on May 8, Pankaj Bhardwaj, counsel for the victim’s family told reporters here after the in-camera hearing for the second consecutive day on Friday.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh directed that the three petitions filed by Mr. Rathore, CBI and the victim’s family and friends will be heard on day-to-day basis from May 3 to May 8 without adjournments, Mr. Bhardwaj, who was accompanied by Anand Parkash and Madhu Parkash — the couple who fought the case, said.
Amid tight security following an earlier attack on him, Mr. Rathore along with his counsel wife Abha reached the court at around 11.30 a.m. They were present in the court room during the arguments which stretched for three hours.
Mr. Rathore was accompanied by a few Haryana policemen provided to him. After the case was adjourned for May 3 in the evening, Mr. Rathore came out smiling as usual and did not respond to any questions from media.
The hearing on the appeals, which have been clubbed, was adjourned following an attack on Mr. Rathore by a youth outside the court premises on February 8 this year.
The last hearing in the case was held on March 10 when the defence had asked for an adjournment saying their counsel N D Sharma needed time to recover from the attack.
Mr. Sharma was also injured along with Mr. Rathore when a youth Utsav Sharma had attacked the former DGP with a pocket knife.
The former DGP was sentenced to six-month imprisonment on December 21 last year by CBI Judge J.S. Sidhu who had held him guilty of molesting a budding tennis player, 14, at Panchkula near here in Haryana on August 12, 1990 who later committed suicide.
The case had sparked a furore and the CBI and family and friends of the victim had filed petitions seeking maximum punishment of two years for the former top police officer of Haryana.
Held guilty under section 354 of the IPC (molestation) by the CBI court, Mr. Rathore was granted bail by Additional District and Session’s Judge R S Attri’s court after his appeal against the sentence was admitted on January 13.
