Srinagar sex scandal case: bail plea hearing continues

Chandigarh, Nov 9 (UNI) Arguments on the bail applications of some of the accused in the Srinagar sex scandal case remained inconclusive today before Justice Rajive Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The line of argument adopted by defence counsel concentrated largely on the need for parity in grant of bail as a senior bureaucrat Iqbal Khande, the principal secretary to the chief Minister, had been given anticipatory bail in the matter by district and Sessions Judge, Srinagar.

It was also argued that while the offence was triable by a magistrate, the maximum punishment under the Suppression of Traffic Act (SITA), under which the accused have been booked, was from one to three years in prison, of which five months the petitioners had already served.

Defence counsel Ranjan Lakhanpal appearing for Mohammed Yusuf Mir, a DSP in J and K police, said the petitioner had in 2004, while serving in the counter-intelligence wing, submitted a report about a sum of Rs 80 lakh being paid to two private television channels to give projection to ''sexual terrorism'' and to highlight the alleged exploitation of Kashmiri girls at the hands of those in power , and the subsequent events like the present case, confirmed.

It was designed to destabilise the government. It was in this context that he had falsely been implicated, the counsel further argued while praying for parity in grant of bail as done in the case of Khande, the counsel said.

However, the CBI counsel Rajan Gupta interjected to say that Khande was granted anticipatory bail on medical grounds. The arguments would continue tomorrow as well.

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