PATIALA: Following the
trial court
's suspension of examination of witnesses in the infamous
Saru Rana
sexual harassment case in which a former vice-chancellor of Punjabi University and the then head of the department of fine arts are facing charges, the Punjab and Haryana high court has now ordered that the proceedings in the case be resumed, setting aside the orders passed by the lower court.
It was last year that the trial court had suspended examination of the witnesses as the main complaint Saru Rana, who was now settled in Australia, had failed to depose before the court.
Her lawyer Satish Karkare said that last year on December 14 he had moved an application before the court of chief judicial magistrate, seeking permission that Saru Rana should be allowed to depose before the court through video conferencing. The court rejected the plea on January 1.
He then moved a review petition in the court of additional sessions and
district judge
on January 13, which also rejected the application. Karkare then moved the HC, which in its order asked the trial court to complete all evidence proceedings by August 16.
A case against the former vice-chancellor,
Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia
, and head of department Saroj Rani had been registered by the Patiala sadar police on February 2, 2002, following a complaint filed by Saru Rana, a student of fine arts department of the university, who had alleged that the VC had summoned her to his office through Saroj and made an attempt to rape her in his retiring room.
On October 29, 2002, the Patiala sessions judge ordered the framing of charges against them under sections 376, 511, 294, 354, 506 and 107 of the IPC.
As per the court documents, Saru had alleged that during one of the university functions the VC had made indecent gestures to her. On January 30, 2002, she had sought action against Ahluwalia, Saroj,
Amandeep Kaur
, a research scholar in the department, and Jaspal, an assistant technician of the department, alleging that they had issued threats to her.
Later, Ahluwalia and Saroj moved the Punjab and Haryana high court during the pendency of case in the Patiala court, which later discharged the two. However, Saru's mother Sultana Begum moved the Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to the Patiala court. The case was taken up by in the court of additional sessions and district judge. During the proceedings, some of the sections under which the case was registered were dropped. At present the case is being heard in the court of the chief judicial magistrate under sections 354 and 294 of the IPC.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.
Start a Conversation
Post comment