Ruchika's family to file a fresh case

After hitting out at the Central Bureau of Investigation for making a "compromise", the family of Ruchika Girhotra, who ended her life three years after being molested by retired Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, on Sunday said a fresh case would be filed against him for inclusion of abetment to suicide charge.

"We will file a fresh case for inclusion of Section 306 of the IPC (abetment to suicide)...the CBI earlier did not press for the inclusion of this section which could have resulted in a tougher sentence to the accused. I do not know why they made this compromise," Ruchika's father S C Girhotra told reporters.

Rathore was convicted by a CBI court in Chandigarh in the molestation case and awarded a six-month jail sentence.

"We would seek trial of Rathore for the offence under 306 IPC," Girhotra said. The retired IPS officer was not tried at all under the section since the suicide of Ruchika on December 29, 1993. The 14-year-old budding tennis player committed suicide by consuming poison three years after she was molested by Rathore.

Rathore's lawyer meanwhile claimed that the "hype" created in Ruchika's molestation case cannot sustain in the light of the facts.

Ajay Jain, who had been Rathore's counsel during the trial of Ruchika molestation case in Ambala court, told reporters that the matter with regard to addition of abetment to suicide charge "had already achieved the finality as the Supreme Court had earlier affirmed the verdict of Punjab and Haryana High court of setting aside the judgment of the trial court adding section 306 IPC in the trial".

Meanwhile, former CBI Joint Director R M Singh who was the in-charge of the probe, alleged that Rathore managed to get the charge of abetment of suicide dropped from the chargesheet besides making attempts to bribe officers handling the probe.