Rathore attacker sent to police custody (Lead)

Chandigarh, Feb 9 (Inditop.com) Utsav Sharma, a student who attacked convicted molester and former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, was Tuesday sent to police remand for a day.

Sharma’s parents were present in the court of civil judge Paramjit Kaur when she passed the ruling. The parents refused to talk to journalists.

Armed with a pen knife, Sharma thrice stabbed Rathore in the face outside the district court complex here Monday. Rathore has been convicted of molesting Ruchika in 1990. The girl committed suicide three years later.

The 29-year-old Sharma had posed as a freelance journalist to reach Rathore. He belongs to Varanasi and is studying film production at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad.

He has been booked for causing hurt with dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation.

Police have said that Sharma was medically unstable and was undergoing treatment for a psychological problem. “He is not at all repentant,” said a police official.

Rathore’s counsel Narayan Dutt Sharma was also injured in the attack.

A Central Bureau of Investigation special court held Rathore guilty in December of molesting 15-year-old Ruchika in Panchkula town in 1990.

Rathore was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs.1,000 in the case. He was granted bail after his conviction.