HC grants bail to Ranjit Bajaj

Bajaj was accused of assaulting Bedi,son of a sitting High Court Judge,at a party in February. After evading arrest for over a month,he was arrested from his residence on March 3 and has been behind the bars in Ambala jail since then.

The bail was,however,not challenged by either the Haryana Police,the Haryana law officer,or by Bedi’s counsel senior advocate R S Rai. In fact,the law officer left the court smiling even before the verdict was passed.

When Justice Saron questioned the Haryana Police about the recovery they made,the law officer apprised the court that Ranjit had “pulled the trigger but since the tip of the pistol was defective it had misfired”.

Bajaj’s counsel,Dr S K Verma,however,indicated that the two parties were opting for an outside the court settlement. Earlier in the day,he appraised the court that his client had even withdrawn the application demanding transfer of the case to some other court. Ranjit’s father and former bureaucrat B R Bajaj refused to comment on the matter.

In the last hearing on March 17,the High Court had refused to hear Bajaj’s bail plea of raising the question of judicial propriety. Justice Saron had observed that since the transfer application filed by Ranjit was pending in the Supreme Court it would be improper for the HC to decide on the bail.