Chandigarh, Feb 8 (IANS) Former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, convicted of molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra in 1990, was stabbed thrice in the face by a youth wielding a pocket knife outside the district court complex here Monday.

An injured Rathore, however, returned for the hearing in a couple of hours.

As Rathore stepped out of the complex in Sector 17 and was headed towards his car, the young attacker caught him by the neck and in a split second stabbed him thrice. His wife and counsel Abha Rathore was with him at the time.

While lawyers immediately took a bleeding and stunned Rathore, who bled from his right cheek and neck, to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, police swooped down on the youth identified as Utsav Sharma from Varanasi. He told the police that he was studying film production in Ahmedabad. The knife was quickly seized from him.

Though shaken by the sudden attack, Rathore pulled out his handkerchief and put it on his bleeding cheek as he tried to regain composure.

Rathore's other counsel, Narayan Dutt Sharma from Jaipur, was also injured in the attack and admitted to hospital. He received stab wounds on his arm.

Rathore returned for the post-lunch session of the court hearing in a couple of hours with a bandage on his cheek and neck, and wearing his fawn-coloured 'bandgala' jacket with blood stains on it. Though the judge offered to adjourn the 'in-camera' trial, Rathore said that it could continue. The hearing continued for nearly 30 minutes.

Senior Superintendent of Police S.S. Srivastava told IANS that the young man 'seemed to be mentally unstable' and had been living in the city for about a month.

Utsav, 29, posed as a freelance journalist and mingled with mediapersons waiting outside for Rathore to cover the first day of the three-day hearing against his conviction which started Monday.

He was arrested after the incident and is likely to be charged with assault.

'We have spoken to his family in Varanasi and to his doctor with whom he was undergoing treatment for a psychological problem in Ahmedabad. He suffers from mood disorder syndrome,' Srivastava told reporters later.

'Investigations are in progress. There does not seem to be any motive behind the attack. He seemed angry and got a feeling that justice has not been done to this girl (Ruchika) and he carried out the attack under psychological imbalance,' Srivastava added.

Pankaj Bhardwaj, lawyer for Anand and Madhu Prakash, the parents of Ruchika's friend Aradhana, who have been fighting the case for over 19 years, said that the judge has adjourned Tuesday's hearing following the attack. The hearing will now be held Wednesday.

Anand later told reporters that the attack on Rathore was not justified.

'We have been fighting the case against Rathore for so many years. The legal system is working. The attack is not justified,' Anand said.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court had held Rathore guilty in December last year for molesting 15-year-old Ruchika in Panchkula town in August 1990. She committed suicide three years later.

He was sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs.1,000 in the 19-year-old molestation case. Rathore was granted bail immediately after his conviction.

A three-day continuous hearing of the case started in-camera following Rathore's appeal against his conviction.

The court is hearing two matters, one related to the appeal filed by Rathore against his conviction for molestation by the CBI special court and the second on the application moved by CBI seeking enhancement of his sentence from six months to two years of rigorous imprisonment.