Ruchika's kin withdraw torture charges against Rathore

The family of Ruchika Girhotra, who committed suicide after being molested by former Haryana Director General of Police SPS Rathore, has raised no objection to the Central Bureau of Investigation's closure reports dropping torture charges against the cop.

The reports filed by the investigating agency say there's no evidence to prove that Ruchika' brother Ashu Girhotra was tortured while in police custody or that the signatures of her father, S C Girhotra, had been forged on the victim's post-mortem report.

The closure reports, filed by the agency in 2010 in these two cases, were accepted by the CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, on Saturday.

Appearing before the Panchkula court, S C Girhotra and his son Ashu raised no objection to the CBI move.

Ashu had alleged that a false case of auto theft was registered against him after the molestation incident at the behest of Rathore, who was then a IG rank officer, and the Haryana police had tortured him. However, the CBI in its report had maintained that there was no evidence to back the charge.

Teenager Ruchika, who was a budding tennis player, had committed suicide three years after the molestation incident in August 1990.

Sixty-nine-year-old Rathore is currently out on bail after spending around six months in jail serving a sentence of 18 months in the main case relating to the molestation charge. He has appealed against the sentence in the molestation case.

S C Girhotra had in his complaint alleged that his signatures were taken on blank papers during the postmortem proceedings of Ruchika, who committed suicide in December 1993.

Girhotra had earlier said that his daughter's name was intentionally changed to Ruby and his name mentioned from SC Girhotra to his full name Subhash Chand, apparently to cover up the matter.

The closure report mentioned that during inquest proceedings after Ruchika's suicide, S C Girhotra had himself disclosed his name as Subhash Chand and that of his daughter as Ruby.

Speaking to reporters in Panchkula, Anand Prakash, family friend of the Girhotras, who had spearheaded the fight to get justice for Ruchika in the molestation case, said Ruchika's father told him that they were "disappointed" that the CBI had gone ahead and filed the closure report.

"Girhotra told me that he wants to lead a peaceful life now and cannot continue fighting the system endlessly," he said. Girhotra could not be contacted for his comments, with his family saying he was out of station.