Justice at last

This case has been bothering me. I heard NDTV's Barkha Dutt debate the issue last sunday. It is indeed amazing that Rathore molested a 14 year old girl and has been on the loose ever since. No jail nothing. He in fact caused this aspiring tennis star to kill herself. Her brother was put in jail and abused. Now he is finally getting his much due jail time.

Ruchika Case: Rathore's Bail Plea Rejected
PANCHKULA Dec 30, 2009

Apprehending arrest following fresh FIRs against him, a cornered SPS Rathore today moved a sessions court for anticipatory bail but failed to get any immediate relief and the Haryana ex-DGP could soon be slapped with abetment to suicide charge.Parallely, the Haryana police set up a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an IGP for the two fresh cases registered on the basis of complaints of father and brother of molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra against Rathore and others for allegedly tampering with the post-mortem report and on abetment of suicide charge.The Centre stepped in with Home Minister P Chidambaram discussing with Ruchika's family and lawyers in New Delhi the possibility of re-opening the 19-year-old case by adding abetment to suicide charge on Rathore. The 67-year-old former top cop was convicted for molesting the 14-year-old budding tennis player who committed suicide three years after the incident in 1990.Ruchika's family is likely to file another FIR -- the third in two days -- in Panchkula soon against Rathore for abetment of suicide, Home Ministry sources said after Chidambaram's hour-long meeting.With the noose tightening over Rathore, there was a pronounced change in his demeanour in sharp contrast to the broad grin he sported the day he got away with a lighter sentence of six months imprisonment early this month.A grim-faced Rathore even had a run-in with the media.He mocked at the media when asked for his comments after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected telling them, "the day you can satisfy me you are a constitutional power on judicial matters, I will speak (to you)".Abha, the lawyer-wife of Rathore, submitted before District and Sessions Judge S P Singh which heard his anticipatory bail plea that "fabricated, twisted and forged" facts were being presented by Ruchika's family.The judge also issued a notice to the state for a reply to the anticipatory bail plea on January one. In a 40-page petition, Abha Rathore alleged that her husband was facing a "nothing but a trial by the media" and sought protection of the court.The judge first adjourned the proceedings, saying he would have to go through the details and later issued notice to the state for a reply on January one. The court however did not grant Rathore any immediate relief on his bail plea.The judge earlier directed Rathore to present all the documents on January 1 so that the issue could be decided after going through the documents.In the absence of exact nature of FIR it will not be appropriate for the court to pass any order, the court said.In New Delhi, Chidambaram discussed with family members of Ruchika and their lawyer the possibility to reopen the molestation case by adding abetment to suicide charge and sought more documents relating to the matter.Advocate Pankaj Bharadwaj accompanied by Ruchika's father Subhash and her friend Aradhana's father Anand Prakash met the Minister and apprised him of the caseAfter the hour-long meeting, Bharadwaj told reporters, "there are so many ways to reopen the matter under section 306 (abetment to suicide). We are still thinking as to which is the best line to reopen the case".Bharadwaj said the Home Minister sought more documents which he would be providing to him by tomorrow. He said the ministry has the power to take up any matter to its logical end and can streamline the whole process.Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said his ministry is contemplating asking the National Commission for Women to move the Supreme Court seeking "intervention" for an enhanced punishment for Rathore.Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he has given orders that everything should be revisited and none of the guilty people be spared.
Filed At: Dec 30, 2009 11:39 IST , Edited At: Dec 30, 2009 11:39 IST

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