HC gives no relief to Rathore

Former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore again failed to get any relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court which adjourned till July 1 his plea challenging his 18-month jail term in the Ruchika molestation case.

The hearing in the case of 68-year-old Rathore, who has spent over a month in high security Burail jail, was adjourned by Justice Jitendra Chauhan. On June 4, High Court vacation judge Justice Ajay Tewari had posted the case for today.

Rathore is undergoing prison term for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra, a classmate of his daughter, 20 years ago.

Rathore's lawyer wife Abha, her sister Neerja, CBI counsel Ajay Kaushik, Anand Parkash (father of Aradhna, the complainant in the case), S C Girhotra, father of Ruchika, and the Girhotra family lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj were among those present in the court.

 Abha arrived this morning in a court of Justice Rajan Gupta but she was told that the case pertaining to bail plea of her husband was not listed before him.

She, however, insisted before Justice Gupta that the case was the first one listed before the court. But it later turned out that the case had not been marked to the court after which she approached Justice Chauhan's court.

Abha told Justice Chauhan that the main case (revision petition) was to come up before his court and the case file would reach him shortly.

Later, she approached the court of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and told the bench that there was gross confusion about which court was to hear the case.

Justice Mudgal said he will inquire about the matter. Thereafter, the case was listed before Justice Chauhan's court.
During the hearing, Justice Chauhan told Rathore's wife that the matter could not be taken up immediately as other matters are listed and adjourned the hearing till Thursday.

Abha had filed a revision petition for suspension of sentence and grant of bail for Rathore on May 26, a day after he was sentenced and lodged in jail.

Ruchika, a budding tennis player, had committed suicide three years after being molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990. A session's court here had on May 25 enhanced Rathore's jail term from six months to one-and-a-half years while allowing the plea of CBI and the Girhotra family.