By IANS,
New Delhi/Chandigarh: The home ministry Saturday slapped show cause notices on former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, asking why he should not be stripped of his police medal and his pension be reduced for abusing power.
“The ministry is taking steps to withdraw the medal of the former director general of police that he received in 1985. The matter will be referred to the appropriate committee and then referred to the president,” Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said.
Rathore was sentenced by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Monday to six months in jail for molesting teenager Ruchika 19 years ago on Aug 12, 1990. A fine of Rs.1,000 was also imposed on Rathore, who, however, was immediately granted bail by the court.
Ruchika, a 14-year-old budding tennis player, had committed suicide in December 1993, three years after the incident, following alleged harassment of her and her family at Rathore’s behest.
Ministry officials said his conduct was unbecoming of a police officer.
Rathore has been asked why the police medal awarded to him for meritorious service should not be withdrawn. The medal is normally awarded to police officers with a flawless service record.
Officials in the ministry said the government was also “actively considering” why the disgraced police officer should get full pension after being convicted.
“We are also examining the pension benefits,” said Pillai.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, meanwhile, said his government would “revisit” the case.
“As far as I am concerned we will revisit the case. I have full sympathy for the family,” Hooda told reporters in New Delhi.
“I have already asked the DGP (Director General of Police) to provide security to her (Ruchika’s) family,” said Hooda.
Earlier Saturday, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Brinda Karat met Hooda and demanded harsher punishment for Rathore.
After meeting Hooda, Karat said: “We want the state government to be proactive in getting the punishment enhanced (for Rathore) and reopen the case.”
Karat was accompanied by the parents of Ruchika’s friend Aradhana, who was the lone witness in the case.
“We also demanded that under his jurisdiction a committee (be set up) which would go into the political patronage given to Rathore and how he got so many promotions.”
Rathore was an inspector general in the Haryana police when the molestation incident took place and continued to be promoted by successive governments in the state despite the charges against him.
He became the police chief when Om Prakash Chautala was chief minister and served from October 1999 to December 2000.
During the course of the over 19-year legal battle, Ruchika’s family was harassed with false cases being slapped against her brother.
A human chain was formed in Chandigarh’s commercial hub, Sector 17, Saturday by an NGO and other activists led by Aradhana. They demanded justice for the molestation victim and harsher punishment for Rathore and those who shielded him for nearly two decades.
Aradhana demanded that Rathore be stripped of all his medals and pension benefits to restore Ruchika’s honour. Case lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj also questioned the credibility of the medical report of Ruchika’s death given by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh.