India

Nine rapes took place during Jat agitation last year: Amicus curiae

The amicus curiae told the court that this information was given to him by Haryana additional chief secretary Vijay Vardhan.

Harpreet Bajwa

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court was on Thursday informed that nine rapes took place at Murthal in Haryana during the Jat agitation last year.  
    
As the Murthal rape case came up for hearing, the amicus curiae Anupam Gupta, who had been appointed by the court, told a division bench that nine rapes took place during the Jat agitation. 

He told the court that this information was given to him by Haryana additional chief secretary Vijay Vardhan.  
    
But interestingly Vardhan has already denied talking to amicus curiae Gupta on this issue. But Gupta claimed the fact that Vardhan gave a phone call to him could easily be established from his call details. Gupta further claimed that Vardhan was pulled up by the Haryana chief minister for speaking out and that is why he is denying it now. 
    
The information (on rapes) was shared during their last meeting before the Parkash Singh committee report was finalized. 
    
In an earlier hearing on August 17, Gupta had said that Vardhan had approached him through officer Ashok Khemka for information on witness Amrik Singh who was deposing before the Parkash Singh committee. 

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