Ex-DG jailed 6 months after 19 yrs

Chandigarh, Dec. 21: The former Haryana director-general of police, S.P.S. Rathore, has been pronounced “guilty” and sentenced to six months of hard labour in prison for molesting a teenage girl more than 19 years ago. The girl later committed suicide.

Rathore said he has “great faith” in the judicial system and would file an appeal. He is entitled to bail and was photographed smiling as he exited the court.

The special CBI judge, Mr J.S. Sidhu, also imposed a Rs 1,000 penalty on him and decreed that he would have to serve an extra month of rigorous imprisonment if he defaulted on the fine.

Then an inspector-general and president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, Rathore molested 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra, a budding school-level tennis player, who he had summoned to his office on the HTA premises at Panchkula City on August 12, 1990.

The incident was, however, witnessed by a friend of the victim and a day later the panicked officer ordered Ruchika’s suspension from the association alleging “indiscipline.”

In the weeks and months that followed, Rathore and his powerful police associates pursued and harassed the young girl and her family, foisting innumerable false criminal cases against her father and brother and posting goons outside their home to heckle and taunt her.

The men would routinely smash the window panes of the Girhotra residence to terrify the family. Unable to bear the stalking, three years later Ruchika, a motherless child, committed suicide on December 28, 1993.