Haryana DGP SPS Rathore - Contd

Molest case pat & punch
NISHIT DHOLABHAI & GAJINDER SINGH
The Telegraph

Dec. 22: Parliament today praised the tenacity of Ruchika Girhotra’s friend in getting justice for the molested teenager who committed suicide, as the crusaders themselves thanked an ex-chief minister for a probe that indicted former Haryana top cop S.P.S. Rathore.

Raising the matter in the Rajya Sabha, the CPM’s Brinda Karat appealed to the Union law and home ministers to reward “brave” Aradhana and her parents, Anand and Madhu Prakash, as a mark of recognition.

Rathore was sentenced to six months in jail by a Chandigarh court yesterday for the August 12, 1990, crime. He was an IG then but went on to become the state police chief despite the allegations.

“It is not anybody else but Anand and Madhu Prakash and their brave daughter Aradhana who stood 19 years as witness,” Karat said.

Her statement came amid a clamour in the House against the light punishment awarded to Rathore and the way he was promoted by successive Haryana governments while the case went on. Information and broadcasting minister and Congress leader Ambika Soni later said Rathore shouldn’t have been promoted.

Women’s panel chief Girija Vyas said: “We are not happy he (Rathore) got just six months and it (the verdict) took so long. But at least something has happened.”

In Chandigarh, Aradhana’s father thanked former chief minister Hukam Singh of the Janata Party for having initiated an inquiry that had indicted Rathore. “The report holding Rathore guilty was handed to then home minister Sampat Singh, who took no action. Had it not been for that inquiry, Ruchika’s case would not have come this far,” Prakash said.

Singh lamented the delay. “I did everything in my power to ensure justice. But I did not stay long as chief minister,” said Singh. Sampat, who crossed over from the Indian National Lok Dal to the Congress before the state polls this October, could not be contacted.

Molester ex-DGP’s nemesis Madhu relives ‘19 years of anguish’
The Pioneer

It was ‘19 years of torment and anguish’ for the family of Madhu Prakash, whose determination it was that saw the conviction of former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore for molesting 14-year-old young tennis player Ruchika Girotra.

“Rathore spared nobody. Ruchika’s brother, Rahul, was tortured in custody, and his legs were broken by a roller. Their home in Panchkula was forcibly sold to Rathore’s lawyer. People were deployed to follow my daughter wherever she went and they passed nasty remarks at her,” Prakash, mother of Aradhana, Ruchika’s friend and tennis partner whose crucial statement helped the court nail the accused, said in conversation with The Pioneer.

Prakash said that Rathore ‘deployed every means in his power as a police officer to torture them’. “False cases of theft, murder and civil defamation were filed against the father and brother of Ruchika. All the people who raised a voice against Rathore were framed in false cases,” she said. “It was 19 years of torment and anguish for my family. But we never gave up and left no stone unturned.”

Prakash recounted how false cases were filed against her and her husband. Even Aradhana was not spared.

“Cases were filed not only against me and my husband Anand but also against my minor daughter Aradhana. My husband was even suspended from his job for sometime. He was eventually given premature retirement,” she said.

Anand Prakash, husband of Madhu Prakash, said they visited the courts 400 times to ensure justice was done.

“We lived a traumatised life. We had to go to court hiding ourselves in different vehicles. We produced ourselves before the court 400 times. We were being pressurised by our relatives and acquaintances to withdraw our complaint. But the face of the motherless Ruchika was never far from my mind,” said Anand with his wife by his side.

Not happy with the quantum of sentence, Prakash said: “The conviction gave us satisfaction to some extent bur six months of imprisonment is nothing compared to his scale of wrongdoing.”

A case was registered against Rathore under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. Some other cases had also been filed by Ambala’s CBI court in 2001 but dropped in 2003 on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“It’s not the end of the matter,” Prakash said. “I am still as firm on my decision as I was at the time when Ruchika first shared with me her trauma. Every officer who helped Rathore should be punished and I will keep fighting to the end.”

Ruchika was molested by the former Haryana DGP in his office on August 12, 1990. She did not tell anybody at first but the very next day when the ball picker at the court again told them that Rathore called them to his office, she and Anuradha came back home and told Madhu Prakash the incident.

The Prakash family was joined by other players’ parents in submitting a memorandum to then Chief Minister Hukam Singh who initiated an inquiry. The report of inquiry officer DGP RR Singh confirmed molestation. The copy of the report was sent to the UT Home Secretary but the matter remained shelved for seven years. A harassed Ruchika committed suicide on December 29, 1993.

Following incessant efforts, Madhu Prakash got the copy of report in 1997 and approached Punjab and Haryana High Court to register a case on the matter. The court ordered CBI to investigate. The investigating agency filed chargesheet on November 17, 2000 and then the case was put to hearing in the CBI special court in Ambala from November 17 to May 2006. This was followed by another hearing in the CBI court in Patiala till November 17 this year. The case was then heard in the CBI special court in Chandigarh for one month where the accused was finally convicted on December 21.

CBI likely to appeal against verdict
The Pioneer
The CBI will examine the possibility of going for an appeal against the light punishment of six-month imprisonment given to former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore by a trial court which convicted him for molesting a teenaged girl.

“We will examine if there are grounds to go into a higher court to seek enhance punishment in this case,” CBI DIG Satish Golcha told The Pioneer.

CBI’s Principal Information Officer RK Gaur said, “We are not in a position to comment on the appropriateness of the punishment. There is a mechanism in CBI. Once we get the full copy of the judgment, our legal officers will study it and the appropriate decision will be taken by the competent authorities.”


Bravo Parliament!!
It seems Brinda Karat has just become a Member of Parliament.
Has she?
What has she been doing during the last 19 years?
Now she wants to reward the "brave' girl?
Now she wants to be a party of the celebration when in all those
19 years she did nothing.
It is just like the communists.
They did all to prevent India becoming independent but after
it became independent they wereonly too keen to participate
in the feasting.
How could Mrs. Karat be so shameless?
If anybody deserves credit it is ex-chief minister Hukam Singh.
And the Congress led by Ambika Soni and Girja Vyas who
now say the six month sentence is not enough admitted
Sampat Singh into the Congress.
As I have been saying, they are all the same.
I wish these politicians would stop shedding these crocodile tears
for they are part of the system which is generating people like Rathore
Now that high flying names in Parliament have become involved,
we can expect that the CBI will appeal against the minimal
punishment imposed on Rarhore, after all the CBI is the pet
poodle of the Centre.
Let us hope he gets the maximum sentence of 2 years and it
does not take the courts another 19 years.
Further, his post retirement benefits should be withdrawn.
This will prevent other officials from taking undue advantage
of girls placed under their care.