Ruchika's was expelled from School under pressure, says probe

The Chandigarh administration on Thursday held the Sacred Heart Convent School expelled budding tennis player Ruchika Girhotra under "external pressure" a month after she was molested by the then Inspector-General of Police S P S Rathore in August 1990.

Debuing the school claim that she was struck off the rolls for non-payment of fees from April to September 1990, the report said Rathore's own daughter, who was Ruchika's classmate was among the 135 students who paid late fees.

Of these, there were eight students in the same year and class( tenth standard), including Rathore's daughter, who paid the fee after Ruchika was expelled from the school.

The expulsion of Ruchika, who was hardly 14 then, was “beyond any doubt arbitrary, wrong, unwarranted and illegal," Education secretary Ram Niwas, who made public the enquiry report, said and added that the adminstration had recommended that the award given to school principal Sister Sebastina be withdrawn.

A copy of the report was sent to management of the school, the Panchkula police, and the CBSE for appropriate action.

Ruchika was the only student to have ever been expelled on the ground of non-payment of fees though school rules provide for such an action, said sub-divisional magistrate Prerna Puri, who probed the enquiry.

The report said,"it is a classic case of selective application of school rules. The wrong expulsion by selective application of rules could have affected the student’s self-confidence and scarred her impressionable mind", the report said.

Her expulsion from school was one of the series of measures taken to harass the family and coerce her into withdrawing the molestation complaint against Mr Rathore. AFter fightint for three years, Ruchika found the arrest of her brother Ashu in false cases of car theft and his being paraded with handcuffs through the lanes of Panchkula too much to bear and she committed suicide in December 1993, a few days after her brother was humiliated.

The report into expulsion of Ruchika by the school will strengthen the case of the victim's family, being fought by the Mr Anand Sharma and Mrs Manju Sharma, parents of Aradhana Gupta, Ruchika's classmate and the only eyewitness to the incident, that the girl was driven to suicide by Rathore, a charge vehemently being denied by his wife Abha, a lawyer, in anticipatory bail applications filed before a sessions court in Panchkula in regard to three more FIRs registered agaisnt him about abetment to suicide, slapping of false cases against Ashu and other forms of harassment the family was subjected to.

The Shimla-Chandigarh Diocese, which runs the Sacred Heart Convent School, maintained that no pressure was brought on the school to expel the girl. "The school is innocent ... No one pressured the school. I will always stand by the statement I made that her name was struck off the attendance registerbecause of non-payment of fees continuously for six months from April to September 1990", Father Thomas, diocese spokesman, said shortly after the magisterial probe report was out.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice to the Central and Haryana governments, the Central Bureau of Investigation and former Haryana Director-General of PoliceS.P.S. Rathore on a public interest litigation petition, seeking a probe into the expulsion of the girl from her school and the hardship her family faced allegedly on Rathore’s orders after her molestation.

The petition was filed by lawyer and human rights activist Ranjan Lakhanpal, who has declared that Rathore be charged under Section 306 (abetment to suicide of a minor) of the Indian Penal Code. The matter will be heard on January 27 Mr Rathore found support from unexpected quarters, former Director-General of Police of Punjab, KPS Gill who himself was convicted of misbehaving with a senior Indian Adminstrative Service officer.

Taking exception to the Government of India's decision to strip Mr Rathore of the meritorious service medal following his conviction in the molestation case, Mr Gill told reporters in Ambala, that "every man is innocent till he is proven guilty". Awards given for bravery should not be taken back following a media trial. In other countries, they strip an officer of medals only if he commits treason or is in involved in suspicious international activities", Mr Gill argued.

Mr. Gill himself was convicted of outraging the modesty of a senior IAS officer, but was let off with a minor fine. Ever since the Central Police Awards Committee recommended withdrawal of police medal from all persons convicted of moral turpitude and any act that brings disrespect to the police force, there has been a debate about the status of medals received by Mr. Gill.

The former IAS officer who was molested by Mr. Gill in 1988 has demanded that he be stripped of the Padma Shree award, a high civilian award given by the Government of India to outstanding persons in various fields.

- Asian Tribune -