Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana High Court
here on Tuesday adjourned till August 5 the interim bail plea of
former Haryana Inspector General of Police M S Ahlawat, who is
facing charges of molesting a woman lawyer eight years back.
Ahlawat`s lawyer, Ajay Jain, contended before the court
of Justice Jaswant Singh that the retired cop`s custodial
interrogation in the case was not required and that he had
given a specimen of his handwriting in the Court of Chief
Judicial Magistrate at Yamunanagar recently.
Jain also submitted before the court that Ahlawat`s voice
sample would be taken by Forensic Sciences Laboratory at
Madhuban tomorrow.
Earlier, on June 16, Ahlawat`s bail plea in the case had
been dismissed by a Yamunanagar court.
The IGP later moved the High Court, whose Vacation Judge
Alok Singh on June 22 had ordered that in the event of
Ahlawat`s arrest, he be released on bail and had further
directed the former police officer that he should cooperate
with the investigations.
Justice Alok Singh had granted him interim bail till
today.
Ahlawat was last month booked by the Yamunanagar police
under sections 354 (criminal force on woman with intent to
outrage modesty), 323 (assault with intent to voluntarily
cause hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
After Ahlawat`s bail plea was dismissed by the
Yamunanagar Court, Haryana Police had issued a lookout notice
and alerted airports against him to prevent him from fleeing
the country. The police had also been searching for the
"missing" cop in Haryana, UP and Delhi in his search, but had
failed to trace him.
The woman lawyer had last month month lodged a
complaint with the police, charging Ahlawat with sexually
harassing her when he was the Yamunanagar SP in 2002.
She claimed to have come into Ahlawat`s contact when
she had approached the Yamunanagar police in May 2002 to lodge
a case of dowry harassment against her husband.
The victim alleged that the officer had insisted on
meeting her in his camp office and allegedly tried to
establish illicit relations with her.
PTI
