New Delhi, May 30: A report submitted by a Chandigarh school on expulsion of Ruchika Girhotra, who was molested by former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, is under consideration of CBSE and no decision has been taken on it.
“The school has submitted the report about its action of expelling Ruchika. The report is being considered by a committee. No decision has been taken in this matter,” CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said.
The Sacred Heart Convent School in Chandigarh, which was asked by Central Board of Secondary Education to explain its action, had submitted its report in March. The school has insisted that there was no wrongdoing by it.
The school in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 area had expelled Ruchika for allegedly not paying fees. Ruchika, a budding tennis player, was molested by Rathore in 1990 and she committed suicide three years later. Her family alleges that she was driven to suicide due to harassment by the former IPS officer who also got the school to expel her.
Joshi said the school requested that its principal should be heard once before any decision is taken. “Now the committee will hear the principal of the school after which a decision will be taken,” he said.
A magisterial inquiry had earlier indicted the school for “wrongfully expelling” Ruchika.
The inquiry by the sub-divisional magistrate Prerna Puri had said non-payment of fees in time was not a satisfactory reason for her expulsion. It suggested action against the school and its Principal Sister Sebastina for expelling her allegedly under pressure from Rathore.
Out of 135 students, who had not paid the fees, Ruchika was the only student to be expelled.
Rathore was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment on December 21 last year by a CBI court for molesting Ruchika. A sessions court had on May 25 enhanced his prison term to 18 months.
—PTI—