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Punjab & Haryana HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of shooting coach accused of assaulting minor ward
The coach, Ankush Bhardwaj, a former shooter himself, ran a shooting academy in Mohali. He is absconding, and his plea for pre-arrest bail had been rejected by a POCSO court earlier
The Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of shooting coach Ankush Bhardwaj. (File Photo)
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has dismissed the anticipatory bail petition of shooting coach Ankush Bhardwaj in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a minor at a Faridabad hotel.
Bhardwaj (33), had moved the High Court on January 30, and the HC had sought the response of the Faridabad Police in the matter the following day.
Bhardwaj had gone to the HC after Additional District and Sessions Judge Abhishek Phutela of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) special court in Faridabad dismissed his pre-arrest bail plea on January 22.
On February 24, the Faridabad Police, appearing through the state Advocate General, sought more time to file their reply to the HC, and the matter was adjourned.
On Tuesday (March 17), Justice Amarjot Bhatti of the HC rejected the pre-arrest bail plea.
Bhardwaj is accused of aggravated penetrative sexual assault of the girl he was training, as well as criminal intimidation. According to police sources, the FIR records the complainant as stating that the alleged incident occurred mid-December.
The FIR was registered on January 6 under Section 6 of the POCSO Act, which pertains to aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and Section 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which pertains to criminal intimidation.
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Bhardwaj (33), remains absconding. He is a former competitive shooter who ran a shooting academy in Mohali.
Police officers investigating the alleged crime told The Indian Express that the phones of the accused have been switched off, and he has not been found during raids on his academies and at his known residences in Ambala and Chandigarh.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) suspended the accused coach in January after the Faridabad Police lodged an FIR against him, the association secretary Rajiv Bhatia had said.
The minor’s parents, in a joint statement earlier, had said that they were “deeply traumatised” and “focused on taking care of [their daughter’s] health”. They also said, “As parents, we do not want anyone else to suffer the same fate.”
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