Ruchika case: Hearing on Rathore's bail plea adjourned

A Panchkula sessions court today adjourned hearing till 1230 hours, after conclusion of arguments on behalf of former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, who is seeking anticipatory bail in the Ruchika molestation case, following filing of fresh FIRs against him.

The court was adjourned by district and sessions judge SP Singh after the lawyer-wife of 67-year-old Rathore pleaded for anticipatory bail, countering charges of slapping false cases against Ruchika Girhotra's brother, attempting to murder him and doctoring the post-mortem report of the 14-year-old girl.

The FIRs were registered after Ruchika's father Subhash Chander Girhotra and brother Ashu filed two complaints.

Rathore was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of Rs1,000 by the trial court on December 21, for molesting Ruchika, who later committed suicide following alleged harassment by him. The former DGP was not present in the court.

Abha argued in the court that Girhotra, his son Ashu and the family of Madhu Parkash, complainant in the case, wanted to become "heroes and heroines in the eyes of the public.

"Madhu Parkash has fabricated and interpolated facts, " she said.

The charge under 306 Indian Penal Code (IPC) (abetment to suicide) being levelled now by Ruchika's brother has been settled at the level of the supreme court, she said, and submitted a copy of the apex court judgement.

"After 16 to 17 years, the Girhotra and Parkash families are raising this issue," she said, adding that the two fresh FIRs lodged this week against Rathore were mostly bailable offences, barring a few, which are not bailable.

Countering Abha Rathore's arguments, Girhotra family lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj alleged outside the court, "To drive a girl to commit suicide after such an incident... and after 9 years, the FIR sees the light of the day; what kind of justice or system are you talking about?"

He told reporters that Rathore had allegedly "managed everything" with the help of the bureaucracy or the political set up.

"Anand Parkash (father of Ruchika's friend Aradhana and husband of Madhu) had a bad service record," Abha said, maintaining, "Now they are becoming heroes in the media."

Referring to the role of former Ambala SP KP Singh, she said the then district police chief, of which Panchkula was a part in the nineties, had recorded his statement that Rathore was not his supervisory officer.

"ADI Sewa Singh (another policeman named by the Girhotra family) never wrote on record that Rathore pressurised him or he had ever talked to him regarding this case," she said.

Abha said they are now suggesting that Ashu was harassed and victimised at Rathore's asking, "which is totally false".

"Investigating officers in the case were never pressurised by Rathore," she claimed.

She said that Girhotra gave a statement in the Chandigarh court a day prior to Ruchika's death and also in 1991, 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 of home locking Ruchika at home," she said.

Abha said, even a day prior to Ruchika's death on December 29, 1993, they had gone to a temple and returned home late at night.

"Due to step-motherly treatment, Ashu lost moral control and he took to auto theft. Now they are making contrary statements regarding the existence of Veena," she alleged.

Referring to discrepancies being pointed out by the complainant in the inquest proceedings conducted at the time of death of Ruchika, Abha said Girhotra himself mentioned his name as Subhash Chander Girhotra and Ruchika's name as Ruby.

"Now they are raising questions on this, and saying that changes were made at the behest of Rathore," she said.

Abha submitted that Ashu's statement was recorded also in a Patiala court, but he never raised the issue of attempt to murder for charging Rathore under section 307 IPC (attempt to murder).

"Neither was this raised in any other court," she said contending, "Now all of a sudden, he is making the statement before the media."

"The Parkash and Girhotra families are making all these statements on oral evidence which cannot stand in any court of law," Abha said.

Rathore's wife argued, "Due to so much media hype and media trial going on in the case, all allegations are coming against Rathore. They (Anand Parkash and Girhotra families) are people with a shady background, and I am saying this with responsibility."

She said Girhotra himself had taken his daughter Ruchika to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, after she attempted suicide, because in his statement, he has never recorded that the Sector 6 Civil Hospital in Panchkula lacked facilities at that time.

"Now they are saying that the post-mortem report was also doctored at Rathore's behest, which is totally wrong," she said, adding Girhotra did not inform the Panchkula police before taking his daughter to the PGI in Chandigarh.

"Girhotra's own track record is also not good," she claimed.

The counsel for the Girhotra family will be replying to the arguments forwarded on behalf of Rathore.

Abha said Girhotra and his son Ashu have slapped charges under various sections including 357, 358, 468, 195-A and 307 relating to various offences, including use of criminal force, forgery, forgery with purpose of cheating, cheating or inducing a person to give false statement, attempt to murder and illegal confinement, "which are all denied".

She said Ashu was not kept in illegal custody by the police (at Rathore's behest) as he was under legal confinement after registration of cases against him.

"We are not afraid to face any enquiry. We will come out clean. It is a trial which is being conducted by the media. We want that an enquiry should be held so that truth comes out, like it has come out in the case of Ruchika's school," Abha said.

She said the Parkash and Girhotra families were saying Ruchika was expelled under Rathore's pressure, but the school has made it clear that her name was struck off the rolls due to non-payment of fees.