HC bench recuses from hearing Kanda's bail plea

New Delhi: A bench of Delhi High Court today recused itself from hearing the bail plea of former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda in the air hostess Geetika Sharma suicide case. Without citing any reason, Justice PK Bhasin said, “List the matter before some other bench for Tuesday.” [caption id=“attachment_512348” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda. PTI[/caption] On Thursday, Kanda had moved the high court against the 20 September order of the trial court which dismissed his bail plea on the ground that further probe was needed in view of a police report that the victim was pregnant in March this year. Geetika, 23-year-old, was found dead on 5 August at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi. In her 4 August suicide note, Geetika said she was ending her life due to “harassment” by Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddah, co-accused in the case. They, however, denied the charge. Earlier, Kanda’s anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the trial court and the Delhi High Court, following which he had surrendered before the police on August 18 and is in jail since then. Chaddah also is currently in jail, after her bail pleas were rejected by the trial court on 7 September and 15 October. She had sought bail on the ground that she is a single-parent and has a seven-year-old daughter and also old parents to look after. On 6 October, the city police filed a charge sheet before the trial court against Kanda and Chaddah for allegedly being involved in “a series of wilful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress” against Geetika which led to her suicide. The police accused the duo of “harassing, conspiring, intimidating and creating an atmosphere of terror and continuous pursuit” in the victim’s mind that “she found no option but to end her life”. The charge sheet, which runs into 1,020 pages, cites 65 prosecution witnesses including the gynaecologist who had aborted Geetika’s foetus in March 2012. Kanda and Chaddah have been charge sheeted under section 306 (abetment of suicide), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery with intention to cheat), 469 (forgery with intention to harm reputation) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of Indian Penal Code. They have also been booked under section 66-A of the Information and Technology Act which deals with hacking of computers. PTI