Panchkula (Haryana), Jan 5: There was fresh trouble on Tuesday for disgraced former Haryana police chief S P S Rathore with police in Panchkula slapping another First Information Report (FIR) on him for abetting the suicide of Ruchika Girhotra who he molested in 1990.
Rathore, who was on Tuesday booked under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), could be arrested anytime now, Haryana police sources said. The Haryana police on Tuesday also recommended that the three fresh cases registered against Rathore be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation. “We have registered the third FIR against him (Rathore). We have recommended that all cases be handed over to the CBI for investigation,” Panchkula Superintendent of Police Maneesh Chaudhary, who is also part of the state special investigation team (SIT) probing the case, told.
The FIR was filed after Ruchika's brother Ashu made a fresh complaint last week seeking Rathore’s booking for abetment of his sister’s suicide. Ruchika, a budding tennis player who was molested by Rathore here on August 12, 1990 when she was 15, committed suicide on December 28, 1993, by consuming insecticide.
The former Haryana director general of police (DGP) has been accused of torturing Ruchika’s brother by getting false cases of car theft slapped on him, inflicting third-degree torture on him in police custody and harassing the Girhotra family between 1990 and 1993. All this reportedly led to Ruchika finally committing suicide in December 1993. Certain other police officers, who allegedly tortured Ashu at Rathore’s behest, have also been named in the fresh FIR against Rathore.
Rathore and other police officials were last week booked by the Panchkula police in two different cases, charging him of attempt to murder, forging and tampering with evidence of Ruchika’s death, criminal conspiracy and wrongful confinement. Most of the charges slapped against him in both FIRs are non-bailable ones. The complaints for the two FIRs were made by Ruchika’s father S C Girhotra and brother Ashu. On Friday, Rathore managed to secure interim relief on his anticipatory bail application from the district and sessions court here till January 7, when his bail plea in these two cases comes up for hearing again. Rathore was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Chandigarh on December 21 for Ruchika’s molestation and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.
The fresh FIR against Rathore has given new hope to Ruchika’s friend Aradhana’s family that has fought a relentless legal battle for justice. “I am very happy that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has kept his promise and an FIR under section 306 has been registered against Rathore. Now, Rathore’s influence is diminishing very fast and we are sure of appropriate justice ahead,” Aradhana, the lone eyewitness of the molestation incident, told on Tuesday.
“Now nobody can save Rathore from a rigorous punishment, we all want to see him behind bars at the earliest. He and his wife have fabricated false evidence and documents and we are ready to counter all of them in court,” added Aradhana’s father Anand Prakash. “After this fresh FIR, we are confident of winning this legal battle. Now we have support from all sections of the society and we are ready to go up to any extent to ensure justice for Ruchika’s family,” stated Prakash. (IANS)
