'Rathore should be punished for abetment to suicide,' says Ruchika's father

Breaking his silence, an emotionally-charged father of Ruchika today said former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, held guilty for molesting his daughter, should be punished for abetment to suicide instead of being let off with a lighter six month sentence.

"This six-month imprisonment is no punishment. We want exemplary punishment, so that nobody should dare repeat such action. My daughter is no more. No other child should be victim of such a crime," SC Girhotra told reporters here.

Fourteen-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, was molested in 1990 by Rathore, the then Inspector General of Police. She committed suicide three years later by consuming poison.

"They harassed her so much that she committed suicide. So why was Rathore not charged with abetment to suicide? Initially, the special magistrate had passed an order that it is a case of abetment to suicide," Girhotra said.

However, Rathore kept approaching the High Court all along and was not charged with abetment to suicide, he said. A person convicted of abetment to suicide by a minor can be punished with death penalty or life imprisonment or a jail term upto 10 years under Sec.305 of the IPC.

"We have been moving here and there for the last 19 years. He (Rathore) has been following us and harassing us. He was the DGP. Whom to complain? The chief minister was backing him wholeheartedly. Om Prakash Chautala was then the chief minister," he said. Girhotra said there were three witnesses in the case. The matter should have been finished in just one week.

Asked whether they were apprehending any fresh threat, Girhotra said, "if there is any threat, we will demand security". "But I don't think they will indulge in any foul play with us since the matter has received so much publicity," he said.

Talking to the media persons at the residence of Madhu Parkash, the mother of Ruchika's close friend and the complainant in the case, Girhotra said, "no girl should suffer like Ruchika".

"The law should be made such that no girl suffers the way my teenaged daughter and the family suffered," he said regretting that successive Chief Ministers stalled the probe against Rathore.

"I have lost my sweet child. My daughter was driven to suicide," Girhotra said adding, "My family was uprooted. My son was booked in false cases. My house was stoned and the entire family was harassed."

"Rathore used every type of political influence to harass us. The police used to come at odd hours, including at midnight and at 2 am, knocking at our residence doors," he added.

Girhotra said that his son was pressurised to ask Ruchika to withdraw the complaint and deny that such an incident had happened. "But my daughter was a truthful girl and the complaint was not withdrawn," he said. 

Sixty-seven year old Rathore was on Monday convicted by a special CBI court on charges of molesting Ruchika and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment. Rathore, who got bail, said he would appeal against the verdict.

Girhotra said following the complaint, the then DGP RR Singh had conducted a probe and recommended that a FIR be lodged against Rathore. "If this had happened, my daughter would not have committed suicide," he said.

He said initially when the case was heard in an Ambala court, the magistrate had said that a case for abetment to suicide was made out against Rathore but there was no movement on this front.

"Even so, why only six months sentence ? he asked contending that Rathore should have been given the maximum punishment of two years provided under law for outraging the modesty of a girl.

Former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court RL Anand said both the complainant and the CBI have a right to make an appeal before the District Sessions Court for enhancing the sentence.

Refuting Girhotra's charge, Ajay Chautala, son of Om Prakash Chautala, said his father had done everything possible during his tenure as CM from 1999--nine years after the incident.

The INLD general secretary said it was surprising that Girhotra had targeted his father though when the incident took place Hukam Singh of Janata Dal was the chief minister from July 17, 1990 to March 22, 1991.

"The case was being investigated by the CBI as per the directions of the court. How could Om Parkash Chautala hamper or obstruct the probe when the case was with the CBI?" he questioned.

Ajay said, "as soon as a charge sheet was filed against Rathore he was removed as the state DGP and M S Malik was appointed in his place."