Counsel to move supreme court seeking a fresh probe

The Ruchika Girhotra molestation case may follow the path of the Best Bakery case.

Anand and Madhu Prakash, who put up a dogged legal fight to ensure justice for Ruchika, have decided to move the Supreme Court seeking re-investigation.

“The entire case needs to be looked into afresh because the CBI investigation was confined only to the molestation charge. It did not probe the misuse of power by former Haryana DGP RPS Rathore to tamper with evidence,” said Pankaj Bhardwaj, counsel for the couple. The appeal would also seek registration of a case against Rathore for abetting suicide.

A CBI special court had recently sentenced Rathore to six months imprisonment, 19 years after he sexually harassed Ruchika. The 14-year-old committed suicide three years after the incident following harassment of her family by the police.

“If the Supreme Court takes it up as an exceptional case, the case could be retried and taken to its logical end. A similar view was taken by the court in the Best Bakery case,” said Pankaj. In 2004, based on petitions of key witness Zahira Sheikh and the state government, the apex court had directed reinvestigation in the notorious Best Bakery case during the Gujarat riots of 2002.

Pankaj said the plea would be based on the fact that the statement of Ashu, Ruchika’s brother, was never recorded by the CBI. Ashu was framed in six criminal cases between September 1992 and August 1993 and subjected to torture by the police at the behest of Rathore. He was, however, released from custody a day after Ruchika committed suicide.

Pankaj said the charges of abetment were dropped by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2002.