Former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore will spend another sweltering month in jail consequent to the Punjab and Haryana high court deciding to defer a decision on his bail petition until June 29 without interim relief.
Arrested and imprisoned after the district and sessions court upheld his conviction and enhanced his sentence to 18 months hard labour for molesting Chandigarh schoolgirl Ruchika Girhotra, Rathore has been sharing a cell with other rogue cops in Chandigarh’s high security Burail Jail.
Rathore’s wife and lawyer, Ms Abha Rathore, challenging the judgment, had also sought bail for her husband on the plea that he needed constant medical supervision due to a recent heart surgery.
But the high court’s vacation judge, Justice Ajay Tewari, on Friday ruled that the bail petition be kept pending to be taken up by an appropriate bench after June 29.
Justice Tewari observed, “Normally where sentence is up to three years bail should be granted liberally since long pendency of the appeal (or) revision may result in the convict having completed his sentence.”