June 3, 2010
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court today deferred till tomorrow pronouncement of its verdict on the bail plea of disgraced former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, who is undergoing an 18-month prison term for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra 20 years ago.
Vacation judge justice Ajay Tewari, who had reserved his order for today, has deferred his verdict till tomorrow, the court's reader said. No reason was given for postponement of the verdict by another day.
Justice Tewari before going for tea break this morning had said, "I am not sure
I will pronounce the orders today. I will do my best."
68-year-old Rathore's wife counsel Abha, her sister Neerja, CBI counsel Ajay
Kaushik, Anand Parkash and Madhu Parkash (parents of Aradhana, the complainant
in the case), S C Girhotra, Ruchika's father and a battery of media persons were
among those who were waiting in the court since morning for the judgement.
Girhotra family's counsel Pankaj Bhardwaj was not present in the court. The
Amritsar police had visited his residence on Tuesday to arrest him in connection
with a cheating case registered in 2007 in Amritsar.
Rathore's lawyer wife Abha Rathore had filed the revision petition on his behalf
in the High Court on May 26 seeking bail, a day after he was sentenced and
lodged in the high security Burail jail here.
Ruchika, a budding tennis player, had committed suicide three years after being
molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990. A session's court had on May 25 enhanced
Rathore's jail term from six months to one-and-a-half years while allowing the
pleas of CBI and the Girhotra family.