The Mumbaui newspaper DNA has listed ten reasons why former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore should be sent to prison.
Sixteen years ago, on December 29, 1993, Ruchika, 17, killed herself. She was killed by a vicious network of policemen, local goons, administrative officers, politicians, her tennis club and her convent school.
Then the CBI and top ministers of Haryana helped Rathore to get away with the murder. SPS Rathore, found guilty of molesting Ruchika 19 years ago, was fined the princely sum of Rs 1,000 and sentenced to six months in prison. Instant bail has kept him out of jail. But now, with new FIRs against him, Rathore seems ripe for arrest.
Here is a list of ten reasons why Rathore should be in jail:
Crime 1: Child sexual abuse, a grave offence that attracts severe punishment in most civilised countries. Ruchika was just 14 when Rathore molested her and expressed interest in repeat performances.
Crime 2: Criminal intimidation. To make her withdraw the complaint, Ruchika and her family were threatened by goons who attacked their home and hurled filthy abuse at Ruchika whenever she stepped out. Most of the other crimes are part of this.
Crime 3: Character assassination by fabricating evidence, getting Ruchika expelled from school just to establish that she was a bad character.
Crime 4: Abusing State power to harm the victim, denying her the right to pursue her passion, tennis, by getting her suspended from the state tennis association.
Crime 5: Framing the innocent. Ruchika's brother Ashu was locked up on several false charges of theft.
Crime 6: Custodial torture. Rathore and his men brutally tortured Ashu for months, demanding that Ruchika withdraw the molestation case. The boy was dumped back home unconscious only after Ruchika's funeral.
Crime 7: Fraud. Three years of sustained bullying shattered her family, made Ruchika a prisoner in her own home, and drove her to suicide. But Rathore's police claimed she had died of an overdose of slimming pills, though her post mortem report showed pesticide poisoning.
Crime 8: Blackmail. Ruchika's father had to sign blank papers to get possession of her body and get Ashu released from police custody.
Crime 9: Faking the inquest report, which gave her name as Ruby, age as 19 (an adult, when Ruchika was 17 and underage), father's name as Subhas Chand Khatri (he is Subhas Girhotra), and said her brother was away visiting relatives when he was actually in police custody.
Crime 10: Subverting justice by influencing the CBI, which dropped the charges against Rathore of abetment to suicide and forging of documents, left out Ashu's harrowing account, and took seven years to create a doctored report.
These are just a few of Rathore's many crimes against Ruchika and her family who were hounded out of their hometown, their lives destroyed.
If this is what happens to urban, upper middle class victims, we can imagine the bottomless pit of injustice that the rural poor live in.
We desperately need police reform. Cops ought to be accountable, even when following orders. We need a corruption-free CBI and faster justice delivery. And we certainly need to change our ridiculous child sexual abuse laws. Only such changes can wipe the smirk off sickos like Rathore, reports DNA.
