Rathore drove Ruchika to suicide, says brother

Ashu Girhotra, brother of teenage tennis player Ruchika has lodged a third complaint against former Haryana Director General of Police S S P Rathore, charging him with driving his sister to suicide in 1993, three years after sexually assaulting her when she was 14.

In a complaint, lodged with police in Panchkula near Chandigarh, Ashu has said Ruchika, who was molested at the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association premises by Mr Rathore who was then president of the association and Inspector-General of Police, was able to take torture upon herself but not harassment of her family.

He said:" She took the atrocities committed upon herself, but she could not take the harassment meted out to me on the day I was paraded half-naked in the lane where we were living". She committed suicide shortly thereafter, he alleged.

Ashu and his father Subash Chandra Girhotra have already lodged two complaints against Mr Rathore after a public outcry against a trial court verdic awarding the officer a mild punishment of six months imprisonment and immediately letting him out on bail. The two complaints accuse Mr Rathore of having got Ashu arrested on false cases and tortured in custody, getting Ruchika expelled from school, and tampering with the post-mortem report to make it appear that Ruchika died, not by consuming pesticide, but because she had taken an overdose of slimming pills.

Ashu in his complaint, said Ruchika was initially bold enough to complaint against the top police officer and stand her ground in the face of harassment. But she became demoralised after three years of harassment."The incident of parading me half-naked with hand-cuffs forced her to end her life".

The lodging of fresh FIRs follow a meeting the family and their lawyer Pankaj Bharadwaj had with Union Home Minister P chidambaram in New Delhi. Mr Chidambaram told reporters on Thursday:"I am unhappy with the way the charges have been framed and the trial has been conducted and the accused punished. I have told the family that I will look into what the government can do".

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which probed the case, has said it is considering the possibility of charging Mr Rathore with abetment to suicide.Spokes of the CBI Harsh Bhal has said " six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000 is far inadequate when the

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Chandigarh concluded that the offences have been proved to the hilt".

In contrast to the CBI's stand, Haryana police has said it has to seek legal opinion as it is a very old case. Panchkula Superintendent of Police Maneesh chaudhary has said:"No action can be taken until the legal opinion is taken. It is a very old case and, after legal opinion, even the evidence needs to be considered (afresh)". He, however, assured the family that the procedure would be unbiased and timely.

- Asian Tribune -