New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday
slammed the Rajasthan police for its failure to arrest a man
accused of raping a British tourist and directed it to produce
tangible results within eight weeks.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati`s repeated efforts to
convince the bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Asok Kumar
Ganguly that the investigation was proceeding in the right
direction and the bench remarked "our initial order was taken
casually. They (police) can`t play around with our orders."
Though the apex court had on January 16 ordered the
arrest of Prabhat Singh Rana and cancellation of his bail
granted by the state High Court, he is yet to be nabbed
despite a nation-wide search for him.
"Is this the character of investigations? It only
shows you (police) in poor light", the bench said.
The apex court, while granting eight weeks to the
state government asked Rajasthan authorities to take up with
German and Nepalese authorities for nabbing Rana who is
believed to have fled to Nepal with a German girlfriend.
The bench passed the direction after the Attorney
General, appearing for the state, submitted that complying
with the court`s direction five special teams comprising 50
police constables have fanned out across the country to nab
Rana.
Rana was convicted in December 2008 and sentenced to
life imprisonment by a fast track court in Udaipur for the
rape of the British tourist who was his guest at the hotel.
However, the Rajasthan High Court stayed the sentence and
granted him bail, after which he escaped.
The apex court on an appeal filed by the victim in
January this year cancelled the bail and ordered Rana`s arrest
after he failed to surrender and since then has been at large.
The Attorney General said investigations so far had
indicated that Rana was moving around with a German girl and
apparently escaped to Nepal.
"Does he have a wife? Then he must be with her," the
bench said, to which Vahanvati said the police had questioned
Rana`s wife, mother and other close acquaintances but his
whereabouts have remained a mystery.
The bench was also displeased with the counsel for
being unable to provide a proper answer as to whether Rana was
the owner of the hotel or just an employee where he allegedly
raped the tourist.
The Rajasthan government had earlier informed the
court that it has suspended two senior police officers for
their failure to arrest Rana.
The two officers Brijesh Kumar Soni and Gopal Singh
Rathore, holding the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police
(DSP), have been placed under suspension after they failed to
arrest Rana as per the January 16 directive of the apex court.
At the last hearing, the Rajasthan Home Secretary had
appeared before the bench and tendered an unconditional
apology through an affidavit for the police`s failure to
apprehend Rana.
Bureau Report
