We did not defend Rathore: Chautala

NEW DELHI - Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala Friday defended himself in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, saying his government had taken immediate action against former top cop S.P.S. Rathore when a complaint was lodged against him 19 years ago.

“S.P.S. Rathore was chargesheeted during my government. Back then, when the complaint came, an FIR was immeditately 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 here Friday.

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

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 at his back 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.

Fourteen-year-old Ruchika was molested Aug 12, 1990 and committed suicide three years later. Chautala was the chief minister of Haryana between March and June 1991.