Chandigarh, May 25: A court here on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by former Haryana police chief SPS Rathore against his conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, and enhanced his sentence to one-and-a-half-years.
While Additional District and Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh dismissed Rathore’s appeal challenging his conviction and six years’ rigorous imprisonment awarded to him by a CBI special court for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra, the court accepted the appeals by the CBI and the girl’s family to enhance the former DGP’s term.
The court has asked police to take Rathore into custody immediately and he would now be sent to Burial Jail, said Ruchika family’s lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj.
Speaking to media after the verdict, Ruchika’s father S C Girhotra said he was happy with the judgement.
The CBI special court had held Rathore guilty in December last year for molesting 15-year-old Ruchika in Panchkula town in August 1990. She committed suicide three years later.
Rathore was sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and was fined Rs.1000. He was, however, immediately granted bail.
In its appeal, the CBI had opposed Rathore’s challenging plea and had sought an enhancement of his sentence from six months to the maximum of two years.
Judge Gurbir Singh had earlier heard the arguments of both sides on a day-to-day basis.
On May 20, the court had deferred the verdict on all the pleas till today, saying it needed more time to complete the process of writing the judgement.
—Agencies