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Exactly 16 years ago, on December 29, 1993, Ruchika, 17, killed herself.

No, let’s be honest. On December 29, 1993, Ruchika, 17, was killed by a vicious network of policemen, local goons, administrative officers, politicians, her tennis club and her convent school.

Then the CBI and top ministers of Haryana helped the accused to get away with the murder. He smirks smugly from the front pages of national dailies. Pretty routine stuff. But our patience with routine impunity has run out. Especially when the victim is an urban, upper middle class person like us.

The smirker, former Director General of Haryana police, SPS Rathore, has been found guilty of molesting Ruchika 19 years ago, fined the princely sum of Rs 1,000 and sentenced to six months in prison. Magical, instant bail has kept him out of jail. But now, with new FIRs against him, Rathore seems ripe for arrest. So what exactly did he do?

It was not just molestation, the only crime he was charged with, and got a feather-light sentence for two decades later. Here’s a list.

Crime 1: Child sexual abuse, a grave offence that attracts severe punishment in most civilised countries. Ruchika was just 14 when Rathore molested her and expressed interest in repeat performances.

Crime 2: Criminal intimidation. To make her withdraw the complaint, Ruchika and her family were threatened by goons who attacked their home and hurled filthy abuse at Ruchika whenever she stepped out. Most of the other crimes are part of this.

Crime 3: Character assassination by fabricating evidence, getting Ruchika expelled from school just to establish that she was a bad character.

Crime 4:Abusing State power to harm the victim, denying her the right to pursue her passion, tennis, by getting her suspended from the state tennis association.

Crime 5: Framing the innocent. Ruchika’s brother Ashu was locked up on several false charges of theft.

Crime 6: Custodial torture. Rathore and his men brutally tortured Ashu for months, demanding that Ruchika withdraw the molestation case. The boy was dumped back home unconscious only after Ruchika’s funeral.

Crime 7: Fraud. Three years of sustained bullying shattered her family, made Ruchika a prisoner in her own home, and drove her to suicide. But Rathore’s police claimed she had died of an overdose of slimming pills, though her post mortem report showed pesticide poisoning.

Crime 8: Blackmail. Ruchika’s father had to sign blank papers to get possession of her body and get Ashu released from police custody.

Crime 9: Faking the inquest report, which gave her name as Ruby, age as 19 (an adult, when Ruchika was 17 and underage), father’s name as Subhas Chand Khatri (he is Subhas Girhotra), and said her brother was away visiting relatives when he was actually in police custody.

Crime 10: Subverting justice by influencing the CBI, which dropped the charges against Rathore of abetment to suicide and forging of documents, left out Ashu’s harrowing account, and took seven years to create a doctored report.

These are just a few of Rathore’s many crimes against Ruchika and her family who were hounded out of their hometown, their lives destroyed. If this is what happens to urban, upper middle class victims, we can imagine the bottomless pit of injustice that the rural poor live in.

We desperately need police reform. Cops ought to be accountable, even when following orders. We need a corruption-free CBI and faster justice delivery. And we certainly need to change our ridiculous child sexual abuse laws. Only such changes can wipe the smirk off sickos like Rathore. Let’s push for it now. For tomorrow is another year. Have a happy and just 2010.