Chandigarh: A court here 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 S C 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.
PTI
