Delhi: Ex-chief of bar association gets away with Rs 40,000 fine in assault case

NEW DELHI:  A city court on Tuesday imposed Rs 40,000 fine on former president of Delhi High Court Bar Association Rajiv Khosla, convicted in a case for assaulting former trial court judge Sujata Kohli in 1994.
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The 27-year-old trial came to an end after the court imposed a fine and refrained from awarding a jail sentence. “For 323 IPC, Khosla has to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000—Rs 10,000 each to state and victim, and for 506 IPC, he has to pay Rs 20,000—Rs 10,000 each to state and victim within a month,” said Chief Metropolitan  Magistrate Gajendra Singh Nagar. 

“The convict, who is aged 65, is being convicted for an offence which he committed 27 years ago, this is a mitigating factor to be considered at the time of deciding the punishment. The undersigned does not deem it to send the convict to imprisonment,” said the order copy. 

Kohli had alleged that in July 1994 when she was a lawyer at a Tis Hazari court, she had refused to join Khosla on a seminar. Khosla, back then the Secretary of Delhi Bar Association, threatened all Bar Association facilities would be withdrawn and she would be dispossessed of her seat.

Kohli had filed a civil suit on August 1, 1994, seeking injunction but her table and chair were removed from their spot. Just before the judge could inspect the spot, Khosla, with a mob of lawyers, “pulled her hair, twisted her arms, and uttered filthy abuses”. Khosla was convicted on October 29 under IPC Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation).