Ruchika case: Centre mulls action against ex DGP

The Centre is considering strict action against former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore, who has been accused of  molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra 19 years ago and later driving her to suicide, while the Central Bureau of Investigation has decided to file a petition asking for rigorous punishment to be given to the accused former Haryana DGP.  

Sources said the Centre was paying keen attention on the matter and is considering if Rathore should be stripped of his police medal, which he was awarded in 1985.

The government has also reportedly decided to serve a show cause notice inquiring why Rathore should get full pension, despite being convicted by CBI's special magistrate on the charges of allegedly molesting a teenager.

The question that has cropped up now is who recommended Rathore's name for the police medal and how he managed to get a clean chit in the case.

The family of 14-year-old budding tennis star Ruchika Girhotra, who was allegedly molested by former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore has finally spoken about the troubles it had to undergo at the hands of Rathore.

Rathore, charged with alleged molestation of teenager Ruchika Girhotra, a promising young tennis star in 1990, was then an inspector general of police and the head of Haryana Lawn Tennis Federation.

Reports of the affidavit, in which Ruchika's brother Ashu Girhotra has recorded his ordeal, has said that Ashu had been tortured at Rathore's behest.

In the affidavit, he has said, "I was terrorised and not given food or water for days at a stretch and was beaten mercilessly. I was paraded in handcuffs in front of my house while the police abused my sister."

Ashu added that he had been kept in police custody for more than two months from October 23 to December 29, 1993, during which he came to know that his sister Ruchika had committed suicide.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's Special Magistrate J S Sidhu sentenced 67-year-old Rathore to six months rigorous imprisonment during an in-camera proceeding and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000, but Rathore got bail immediately.

Teenager Ruchika killed herself three years after the incident by drinking poison.

A large number of facts are now coming out in the open with respect to the harassment and trauma that the Girhotra family allegedly faced from the influential cop.

Ruchika's father Subhash Girhotra has also blamed the Haryana government for saving Rathore, and not allowing the wheels of justice to take the appropriate course.

Girhotra has also accused Om Prakash Chautala, who was the chief minister of Haryana when the case came up, of protecting Rathore.