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The Punjab and Haryana High Court adjourned till August 9 the hearing on two FIRs filed in January against former Director General of Police SPS Rathore in the Ruchika molestation case charging him with serious offences like attempt to murder.
On April 5, High Court Judge Justice Sabina had adjourned hearing in the case till today after the CBI had sought more time to conduct the probe. When the case came for hearing this morning, the CBI said it needed more time to file its reply following which Justice Sabina adjourned the case.
Rathore's lawyer wife Abha pleaded before the court that the CBI should be directed to file the status report in the case at the earliest as it has already taken a long time to complete the investigations. She also moved another application before the court seeking an early hearing in the case. Abha had earlier moved an application before the court to obtain a copy of the status report.
The two FIRs registered by the CBI in January on the basis of complaints filed by Ruchika's father S C Girhotra and brother Ashu, accuse Rathore of committing serious offences, including attempt to murder, wrongful confinement, giving false evidence and doctoring post-mortem report of the 14-year-old Ruchika. Rathore's plea for quashing of the third FIR under section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) had later been referred to a high court division bench.
Earlier, Rathore had filed a third petition seeking quashing of the third FIR stating that the issue had been settled earlier even at the level of the Supreme Court. The high court is also hearing on a day-to-day basis the 68-year-old Rathore's revision petition challenging his conviction in the molestation case.
Abha had on May 26 filed the revision petition in the high court on his behalf for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the former Haryana DGP, a day after the sessions court here awarded him 18-month jail term for molesting budding tennis player Ruchika. Rathore has been lodged in the high security Burail jail since May 25. Ruchika Girhotra had committed suicide three years after being molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990.