Chandigarh, January 02: NEW YEAR brought some cheer for former Haryana director- general of police ( DGP) SPS Rathore.
A court in Panchkula on Friday granted him interim bail in two fresh cases registered against him on the complaints of Ruchika Girhotra’s father and brother.
The interim relief protects Rathore from being arrested till his anticipatory bail plea is heard by the court on January 7.
Rathore has been convicted of molesting Ruchika, then 14, in 1990. She had committed killed herself three years after the cop molested her.
The interim relief was granted by district and sessions judge S. P. Singh after hearing his wife and counsel Abha Rathore and Pankaj Bhardwaj, counsel for Ruchika’s family. The court said it had granted interim relief to Rathore, based on “ prima facie” grounds.
The police had booked Rathore and some other police officers for attempt to murder, fabricating evidence, destruction of proof, wrongful confinement, forgery and disobeying law with intent to cause injury on Tuesday. Rathore had moved the court on Wednesday for pre- arrest bail in the cases. He was not in the court when his plea was heard.
Bhardwaj, appearing on behalf of Ruchika’s father S. C. Girhotra and brother Ashu, said the decision of the court was “ not a setback”. “ We will oppose his ( anticipatory) bail plea on January 7,” he said.
Issuing notice to the state for January 6, the court said: “ If the petitioner ( Rathore) is arrested during this period, he will be released on interim bail.” The court also directed Rathore not to leave the country and make him available for investigation if required by the police.
Bhardwaj expressed hope they would be able to bring out “ the truth” at the next date of hearing on January 7. “ So far we have not got any opportunity to present our case,” he said.
He said that the law had the provision for an interim pre- arrest bail.
During the court proceedings, Abha countered that the charges against Rathore — slapping false cases against Ruchika’s brother, attempting to murder him and doctoring the post- mortem report of the girl — were baseless.
She said Girhotra, his son Ashu and the family of Madhu Prakash ( mother of Ruchika’s friend Aradhana, who, along with her husband Anand has been fighting Ruchika’s case) aimed to become “ heroes and heroines in the eyes of the public”. “ Madhu Prakash has fabricated and interpolated facts,” she alleged.
Abha said that while allegations of abetment to suicide were being levelled by Ruchika’s brother Ashu now, the issue had been settled by the Supreme Court. She submitted a copy of the apex court’s judgment.
“ The Girhotra and Prakash families are raising this issue after 16- 17 years,” she said, adding that the majority of the alleged offences in the two fresh FIRs lodged this week against Rathore were bailable.
Abha alleged that Girhotra had deposed in a Chandigarh court that he had a second marriage with a woman named Veena. “ Ruchika used to be left alone at home. They ( Girhotra and Veena) used to go out locking Ruchika in,” she said.
“ Due to the step- motherly treatment, Ashu lost moral control and took to auto theft. Now they are making contrary statements regarding the existence of Veena,” she alleged. “ The Prakash and Girhotra families are making all these statements on oral evidence which cannot stand in any court of law,” Abha said.
She claimed Girhotra had taken Ruchika to Chandigarh’s Post- Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research after she attempted suicide. He had never recorded in his statement that the Panchkula hospital lacked facilities to handle such cases.
On Friday, women and child development minister Krishna Tirath met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and appraised him of the case.
–Agencies