More Crockodile Tears for Ruchika

Centre looks at way to strip Rathore of his Police Medal

The Centre is actively exploring whether it can strip former Haryana DGP Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore of his 1985 Police Medal for Meritorious Services and has decided to ask the CBI to start groundwork for an appeal for an enhanced sentence.
It has also been decided to serve a show-cause notice to the disgraced officer asking why he should get full pension after being convicted by the CBI court for the molestation of Ruchika Girhotra this week.
Girhotra committed suicide in 1993, three years after she filed the complaint, three years during which her Chandigarh school, Sacred Heart Convent, expelled her and a string of fake auto-theft cases were slapped against her brother.
While the Home Ministry is examining whether action against Rathore is time-barred in any way — the officer retired in 2002 — sources told The Indian Express that the record of the 1965 batch IPS officer revealed that not only was Rathore promoted to DGP by the Om Prakash Chautala government in 2000, his name was even recommended for a President’s Police Medal For Distinguished Service by the same government in November 1999.
Records show that the proposal gave Rathore a clean chit on integrity and concealed the fact that he had a case of molestation against him. It was only when the Intelligence Bureau told the Home Ministry that Rathore was an accused in the Ruchika molestation case that the recommendation was rejected. The Centre is looking at probing how and why Rathore’s recommendation was cleared and who were behind the attempted cover-up.
Meanwhile, citing Rathore’s conviction this week, the Centre is working to start the process of stripping the officer of the only Police Medal he was awarded on August 15, 1985. Simultaneously, the Home Ministry is also expected to show-cause Rathore — who retired in 2002 — on why his pension should not be cut for bringing his service into disrepute. It has also been decided that the CBI will file an appeal in the higher court for a stringent sentence as the punishment for molestation is upto two years.

Chautala refutes charges of shielding Rathore in Ruchika case

Refuting the charge that he had shielded former DGP S P S Rathore in the Ruchika molestation case, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said on Friday that while he had taken action against the officer, he was promoted by other governments.
"We took strong action against him. During my government (in 1990), we instituted a departmental inquiry against him. In my tenure later, we suspended him from the post of DGP as he was facing charge sheet in the case. He (Rathore) was promoted to the post of ADGP and DGP during the governments of Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal. They should be blamed for the promotion," he told reporters in New Delhi.
S C Girhotra, Ruchika's father, accused Chautala of shielding Rathore in the case on Thursday.
Rathore, who molested 14-year-old budding tennis player in 1990, was sentenced to six-month imprisonment, 19 years after the incident. Chautala said he, as chief minister, did not recommend Rathore for President's medal and that his name was forwarded for the award as part of a routine bureaucratic process.
"I did not recommended him for the medal. That was done as part of a routine work by officers. The issue (recommendation) did not come to my notice," he said.
Chautala said his government had taken strong action by initiating departmental inquiry against Rathore.
Ruchika was molested by Rathore, the then IG of Police. She committed suicide three years later by consuming poison. Girhotra has demanded that the former DGP should be punished for abetment to suicide instead of being let off with a lighter six month sentence.

19 years on, school says Ruchika an ‘old issue’

After Sacred Heart Convent School, Sector 26, shut its door on Ruchika Girhotra 19 years ago, its teachers who once taught the budding tennis player followed the same path. They are averse to any mention of Ruchika, the girl who had studied there since Class I, till she was asked to leave for not depositing fee on time. Ruchika was a student of Class X when the molestation incident took place. Does the school regret its action, which may have added to the harassed girl’s misery? “All that happened a long time ago. It is a very old issue. We don’t want to comment on it,” says school principal Sister Sebastina.
Is the school pained at the quantum of punishment given to the DGP? “Did it not pain the person who gave the judgment,” she questions back, adding: “Please do not ask us anything about it.”
“I do not know any Ruchika and I do not know anything about the incident” was what arts teacher R B Singh, who taught at the school when Ruchika was a student, had to say. A few of her teachers claim to “know nothing about the incident” and “do not remember who Ruchika was”.


The Centre suddenly wakes up to enquire if the police medal can be withdrawn from Rathore.
They also would like to discontinue his pension and other benefits and would like to find out if the case is time barred.
When you want to escape taking action, you say it is time barred or you set up a commission of enquiry.
On many occasions the government has reopened old cases when it suited them after they were time barred.
Why can't they do it now?
Is it because they do not want to take action and just want to appear in public as if they are taking action? After all Rathore must still be having very strong backers among the politicians. Remember it took 19 years to award him, a sentence of 6 months for abetting suicide.
How can Chauthala say that he was not aware of the case when the recommendation had gone during his time and promoted in 2000 when Chauthala was in power?
But then you cannot blame Chauthala.
Bhajanlal of the Congress was equally responsible but the Congress seems to have suddenly lost its voice regarding Bhajanlal.
I have said earlier, when it comes to politics, all political parties, without exception, are the same, CORRUPT, CORRUPT AND MORE CORRUPT.
And the Sacred Heart School too was equally responsible for Ruchika's death .
If they had not expelled her, maybe she would not have committed suicide.
Instead of giving comfort to a girl who had been wronged, they expelled her.
Here too I have no doubts it was Mr Rathore who pressurised the school to do what it did.
The name of the school is Sacred Heart but I do not know whether it is a missionary school. Their actions show that they acted in a very unmissionary fashion.
I would suggest to the government that school's run by Indians should not be allowed to name their schools like missionaries as they cheat the public to make it appear as if they are missionary schools.
They give the missionaries a bad name.