The petition also alleged that accused Karan Pal, who got

bail 19 years ago in the case, had raped a 16-year-old girl in Connaught Place here in June 1993. Though police arrested Pal and filed the charge sheet in September 1993, the case file went missing during the court proceedings and has not been found. The accused was released on bail in February 1994, it alleged. The petition said that the matter came to light after the victim's relatives filed an RTI to find out the status of the case. In the RTI reply, it was said that the file of the case had been misplaced while the matter was shown as active in police and court records, it said. The PIL alleged that "... There was no progress in the case and even after repeated requests to various authorities, the file in the case could not be traced. "The police have shown a very lax and casual approach in this case and in the matter of the file going missing," the PIL seeking retrieval and reconstruction of the case file said. The plea also asked the court to fix the responsibility of Delhi government and the police in the disappearance of the file and the person found responsible or guilty may be punished.