Utsav Sharma stabs SPS Rathore in the face outside the Chandigarh court on Monday. (PTI)

Police grab Utsav after the attack. (AFP)

In blood-stained clothes, Rathore leaves court. (PTI)

Rathore leaves hospital after treatment. (PTI)

Chandigarh, Feb. 8: Ruchika molest cop S.P.S. Rathore was today grabbed by the collar and stabbed thrice in the cheek before TV cameras by an “introverted” design student from Ahmedabad, who had been camping here for over a month and clicking pictures of the retired officer’s home.

Utsav Sharma, 28, son of college teachers in Varanasi and doing a postgraduate course at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, told police he had been outraged at the mere six-month term handed to Rathore for the molestation.

Rathore, who is on bail, suffered minor cuts as Utsav lunged at him with a pocket-knife outside a Panchkula court after the morning session of the hearing of the former Haryana police chief’s appeal against his conviction. The 68-year-old returned from hospital after first aid to attend the afternoon session, his right cheek bandaged and a walking stick in his hand.

Utsav had been staying in various lodges in Chandigarh and Panchkula almost since the time of Rathore’s conviction on December 21 which, the young man has told police, “was playing on my mind”.

The police, however, have ruled out “any conspiracy” and believe he acted in the heat of the moment.

“He has also been mumbling something about a book he is writing and a documentary he is making on the case, and believes both will now become hits,” an officer said.

Utsav regularly went to court and mingled with journalists during recent hearings of cases against Rathore, who had in 1990 molested schoolgirl Ruchika Girhotra, apparently prompting her to commit suicide. A quite person, Utsav’s standard answer when asked to introduce himself was: “I am a freelance journalist.”

He was often spotted loitering around Rathore’s home with a digital camera slung from his shoulders, sources said.

Chandigarh senior superintendent of police S.S. Srivatsava told reporters Utsav’s parents had said he had been suffering from a mental disorder for sometime.

“The doctor treating him also said that. We are questioning him,” Srivatsava said, adding the youth would be put through a “medical” examination.

He said Utsav had been charged with assault and carrying a weapon but if doctors said Rathore’s injuries could have become life-threatening, a case of attempted murder could be lodged.

The police searched Utsav’s room in a Panchkula lodge but did not find “any incriminating documents or articles”.

An officer said: “Sometimes he (Utsav) does not even know what is happening to him and why so many people are asking him so many questions.”

Today, as Rathore stepped out of court, Utsav pretended to be clicking him to get close. He then dropped his camera to the ground, pounced on his man and began stabbing him with the pocket-knife in his left hand.

As Rathore stepped back, bleeding, and covered his face with a handkerchief, his lawyer Ajit Kumar caught Utsav’s left hand and suffered cuts before the attacker was overpowered. By Rathore’s side was his wife and lawyer Abha.

“We deplore what happened today. We want justice for Ruchika from the courts and nowhere else,” said Anand Prakash, father of a friend of Ruchika’s, who has been fighting the case for 20 years.

A PTI report quoted Utsav’s father S.K. Sharma as saying: “He should not have done that. He should not take the law into his own hands.”