Rathore gets bail in Ruchika molestation case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday granted interim bail to accused former Haryana Director General of Police  SPS Rathore for the first two FIRS registered against him in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to give four days notice to Rathore if he is to be arrested.

The high court had on January 18 extended the two anticipatory bail applications and a petition demanding cancellation of abetment to suicide charges against Rathore till January 25. The high court had earlier on January 12 rejected the interim bail plea of Rathore, and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file its reply in this case by January 18.

The CBI had on January 12 taken over the case and begun its investigation into all the three fresh FIRs filed against Rathore, leveling various allegations, including attempt to murder, abetment to suicide and doctoring the post mortem report and other documents. A CBI team had on January 15 called upon Ruchika's father Subhash Chander Girhotra along with her friend Aradhana's father Anand Prakash at their Chandigarh office, and held a formal interaction with them in order to acquaint themselves with the case.

The former cop has been charged for allegedly molesting 14-year old teenager Ruchika Girhotra, a budding young tennis star in 1990s.

Rathore has three cases pending against him in the court; all filed by Ruchika's family and friends. Ruchika's family lawyer Pankaj Bharadwaj had earlier filed two FIRs against Rathore. The lawyer had claimed that the first FIR was filed for forging documents like the inquest report and the other for illegal detention of Ruchika's brother, Ashu, who was kept in illegal detention at Rahore's behest and tortured. The third case is that of abetment to suicide.

The family has claimed that Ruchika was expelled from Sacred Heart Convent in Chandigarh due to Rathore's influence. Teenager Ruchika had killed herself three years after the incident by drinking poison. The CBI is investigating whether Rathore drove Ruchika to suicide after she filed molestation charges. An inquiry by the Chandigarh administration has found that Ruchika was unfairly expelled from her school in 1990. The report also concluded that the expulsion took place under pressure from "an external influence".

The special CBI court had earlier held the former cop guilty under Section 354 IPC and sentenced him to six months imprisonment and had imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on him.