Blame game starts over Ruchika case, Moily for ‘revisit’ (Roundup)

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH - A political blame game began Friday among Haryana politicians over the 1990 molestation case of teenager Ruchika Girhotra while Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the matter needs to be “revisited”.

Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala denied promoting former top cop S.P.S. Rathore, convicted for molesting the teenager 19 years ago, and blamed former Congress governments for shielding him. The Congress said he was abdicating his responsibility.

While Moily said the molestation case needs to be “revisited”, he added that the “rule of law should not be interfered (with) by any one”.

“The case of this nature has been mistreated and whoever is responsible has to be appropriately dealt with. And a case of this nature needs to be revisited,” Moily told reporters in New Delhi Friday.

Fourteen-year-old Ruchika was molested Aug 12, 1990 by Rathore, who rose to become Haryana’s police chief. The girl committed suicide three years later. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court Monday convicted Rathore in the molestation case and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.1,000. Rathore was immediately granted bail by the court.

“I have discussed it with the solicitor general of India and have asked him what could be done after this sentence. I told him to discuss the case with the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) director also,” said Moily.

“The delay of 19 years by the judiciary is unpardonable. We have to revisit laws also in terms of punishment and the manner in which the case was treated,” Moily added.

Sources in the ministry of home affairs also indicated that Rathore’s service and medals could be “re-looked” at.

Chautala denied promoting Rathore and blamed former Congress governments for shielding him.

“S.P.S. Rathore was chargesheeted during my government. Back then, when the complaint came, an FIR was immediately lodged. Yet my government was not satisfied with the action. Therefore, we ordered a departmental enquiry into the case,” Chautala said at a press conference in New Delhi.

“It was during the Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal governments that Rathore was promoted, not ours,” he added.

“I am surprised why we are being blamed for this,” Chautala contended.

But former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal refuted arch rival Chautala’s allegations.

“Chautala made him DGP. His allegations are totally false. He (Chautala) is wrong,” Bhajan Lal told news channels.

Bhajan Lal’s son and Haryana Janhit Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi also countered Chautala’s allegations.

“The Aug 12, 1990 incident and most of the other things like harassment of the family happened between 1990 and 1991. Chautala’s government was in power during this time. My father’s (Bhajan Lal’s) government came later.

“Chautala and Rathore were one. We demand reopening of the case and a case should be registered against the police officials who registered false cases against Ruchika’s brother and those who mistreated her family,” Bishnoi said.

Chautala evaded questions on why a molestation case was not registered against Rathore despite his party’s (Lok Dal) government was in power in Haryana in 1990-91.

He also evaded the issue of his government recommending Rathore’s name for the President’s Police Medal in 1999, saying that the file must have been moved administratively.

But Anand Prakash, the father of Ruchika’s friend Aradhana who fought a long legal battle, did not buy Chautala’s argument.

“Chautala is avoiding blame now. We won’t blame the Congress as Bhajan Lal did it (shielding Rathore) on his own,” Prakash told IANS.

On Thursday, Ruchika’s father S.C. Girhotra had blamed Chautala and the entire establishment in Haryana for the harassment that drove his daughter to suicide and forced his family to go underground.

“Chautala was the main person behind him. Rathore used to carry out all his (Chautala’s) wrong deeds. Chautala was behind him all the while. Even after R.R. Singh (the then Haryana DGP in 1990) gave his report recommending registration of a case against Rathore, the government took no action,” Girhotra said in Chandigarh.

Following Chautala’s accusations, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: “The government in Haryana is Congress-led. I have absolutely no doubt that there will be an appeal against the judgement and they (the Haryana government) will get it done quickly.”

The Congress, which is now in power in the state, says that action should be taken against Rathore and he should be given harsher punishment. However, the party is keeping quiet on how its own chief minister of the time (1991-96), Bhajan Lal, took no action in the matter.