The District Court in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, has admitted an appeal challenging a Kasauli court's decision to accept a closure report filed by the Kasauli Police in a gang rape case involving Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli and former state government publicity advisor Rocky Mittal.
District and Sessions Judge Dr. Arvind Malhotra, who reviewed the case on Tuesday, has requested the complete records from the Judicial Magistrate's court in Kasauli.
The case was originally registered following an FIR lodged on December 13, 2024, by a woman from Delhi at the Kasauli police station. The FIR was filed under Sections 376D (gang rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Badoli and Mittal.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that in July 2023, the accused coerced her into consuming alcohol at a hotel in Kasauli, Solan district, before sexually assaulting her. She further stated that the accused recorded compromising videos and took explicit photographs of her.
The Himachal Pradesh Police later submitted a closure report citing insufficient evidence, which was accepted by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Prashant Singh Negi of Kasauli on March 12.
The Judicial Court Complex in Kasauli had attempted to summon the woman twice at her registered addresses to record her statement before making a final decision on the closure report. However, according to her legal representatives, she never received any summons.
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In her appeal, the woman contended that the magistrate’s decision was legally flawed, asserting that cases under Section 376D should be adjudicated by a special court rather than the ACJM.
Her legal counsel, A.S. Gujral, Manjot Gujral, and Gaurav Charaya, argued before the Sessions Court that the magistrate’s order was "illegal, arbitrary, and contrary to the evidence on record." They sought to have the decision overturned and a fresh hearing conducted.
The Sessions Court will now deliberate on the appeal and determine whether the closure order should be revoked. Meanwhile, the woman herself is facing legal proceedings, as an FIR was registered against her in Panchkula in connection with an alleged honey-trapping case.
Notably, around the same time the Kasauli court was reviewing the police’s closure report, the Panchkula Police lodged an FIR against the complainant, another woman, businessman and politician Amit Bindal—who, according to the FIR in the gang rape case, had accompanied the woman to Kasauli on the day of the alleged incident—as well as an unidentified individual.
The Sessions Court in Solan has scheduled the next hearing in the case for April 22.
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