Hearing on ex-Haryana DGP Rathore's appeal adjourned till tomorrow

A court in Chandigarh today adjourned till tomorrow the hearing on former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore's appeal against his six month prison term in the Ruchika molestation case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh, who heard the case for the first time after the previous judge's transfer, listened to the arguments of the ex-Haryana police chief's counsel before putting it off till tomorrow.

The arguments will continue tomorrow as well.

68-year-old Rathore and his lawyer-wife Abha and another of his counsel were present during the hearing in Singh's court besides CBI counsel SC Sharma, lawyer of the victim's family Pankaj Bhardwaj, Aradhna, the sole witness in the case and a host of media persons.

Abha began her arguments on the appeal by requesting that Rathore be allowed to stand beside her to assist in the case to which the Judge agreed but made it clear that he could not argue.

She lashed out at the media for its "false and misreporting" in the case and objected to the presence of media persons inside the courtroom.

Pleading that in-camera proceedings be ordered in the case, Abha said it was a case of media hype.

Media was prejudiced against them and for the last 20 years the case had only proceeded because of media hype, she said.

Abha also referred to the incident in February when a youth posing as a journalist had attacked Rathore during a hearing in the case here, in which he had sustained knife injuries, and argued that their (media) presence could again raise security issues.

"The media has been misreporting facts in inverted commas..it's a case of media hype right from the start...criminal contempt cases and criminal defamation cases are pending against them. We are arguing a serious case, we (Rathore) need to address the court without interference of the Press," Abha said.

Pointing out that in-camera proceedings were also conducted in the case earlier, she said the same could be ordered by the judge now.

However, Pankaj Bhardwaj strongly opposed this, saying that in-camera proceedings in the case were conducted at the trial stage and argued that media could remain present when the appeal was being heard.

The CBI counsel also referred to Mumbai serial blast case in 1993 and said that even in such sensitive cases the media had not been kept out.

However, later the ADSJ, Gurbir Singh asked mediapersons present in the courtroom to go out after which a notice was also put up at the entrance of the court mentioning that "in- camera proceedings" were being held in the case.

After this development only those connected with the case were allowed entry into the court room.

Rathore arrived in the morning with his wife and another lawyer for the proceedings in the molestation case in which the former DGP has filed an appeal against the six month prison sentence and a fine of Rs 1,000 slapped on him while the CBI and Ruchika's family counsel have sought enhancement
of the punishment.

The former Haryana DGP was accompanied by a few Haryana policemen provided to him as security while outside the courtroom.

Tight security was put in place and those going inside had to pass through metal detectors.

The ex-DGP had filed an appeal against the sentence awarded to him on December 21 last year by the CBI Judge in Chandigarh JS Sidhu who had held him guilty of molesting a budding tennis player Ruchika Girhotra at Panchkula in Haryana on August 12, 1990.

Held guilty under section 354 of the IPC (molestation) by the CBI court, Rathore was granted bail by the Additional District and Sessions Judge RS Attri's court after his appeal against the sentence was admitted on January 13.