The Haryana Government, which was questioned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on how disgraced former DGP SPS Rathore was promoted despite facing molestation charge in a case, today filed its reply in a sealed envelope before the court here.
The government counsel filed the reply before Division Bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Ronjan Gogoi and Augustine Masih while hearing a PIL filed by a local advocate seeking a fresh case against Rathore for abetment to suicide of a teenager.
On December 21 last year, the High Court had rapped the Haryana government on Rathore’s promotion to the rank of DGP who has since been convicted of molesting 14-year-old girl and sentenced to 18-month imprisonment.
The Division Bench comprising the then Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal (now retired) and Justice Gogoi had sought details from the Haryana government in this regard and also reports on the investigations into the three fresh FIRs filed against Rathore.
However, the High Court today directed that the closure reports filed by the CBI in two of these FIRs will now be taken up in the trial court at Ambala.
The Division Bench directed that under the provisions of the code of criminal procedure it is the trial court which should deal with the matter and pass appropriate orders on the report of the investigation.
“There would be serious doubts as to whether the court would be justified in embarking up an action, which really belongs to the domain of trial court under the provisions of the code of criminal procedure,” the High Court said.
The court fixed the next date of hearing for March 24.
After spending close to six months behind bars, Rathore walked free in November after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
The girl victim, a budding tennis player, committed suicide three years after being molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990.
CBI had recently filed closure reports in the Special CBI court in Ambala in two fresh cases related to alleged tampering of documents and the custodial torture of the girl’s brother.
