Punjab and Haryana High Court today adjourned till Monday, the hearing on the anticipatory bail petition of former disgraced Haryana DGP SPS Rathore and his plea for quashing of the charge of abetment to suicide in the Ruchika molestation case.
The hearing was adjourned by Justice Sabina after hearing arguments of 67-year-old Rathore's lawyer-wife Abha on certain technical issues.
On January 12, the court, while giving no relief to Rathore, had posted for today arguments on the petitions of the former IPS officer while asking CBI, which is probing the case, to give its response to the cases tomorrow.
The CBI also took over the probe into the three fresh FIRs against 67-year-old Rathore, who got away with a lighter sentence of six-month imprisonment awarded by the CBI court.
Justice Sabina had issued notice to CBI regarding stay in the event of Rathore's arrest after the investigating agency had sought a week's time to file its reply on his anticipatory bail plea in the two fresh FIRs accusing the former top cop of serious criminal charges in the Ruchika case.
Rathore also sought quashing of a third FIR which charges him with abetment to suicide of the girl, three years after she was molested on August 12, 1990.
Justice Sabina had at the last hearing issued notices to the CBI after brief arguments during which the probe agency had submitted that it needed a week’s time to file a reply since the three FIRs had been registered only on January 11, a day before the cases were transferred to it by the Haryana Police.
The two fresh FIRs, registered on the basis of complaints by Ruchika's father and brother, accuse Rathore of committing serious offences including attempt to murder, wrongful confinement, giving false evidence and doctoring the post mortem report of the girl.
Rathore had filed another petition seeking quashing of the third FIR against him registered under section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) stating that the issue had been settled earlier even at the level of the Supreme Court.