Haryana court refuses interim bail to Rathore (Fourth Lead)

PANCHKULA - Former Haryana director general of police S.P.S. Rathore, who has been convicted of molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra 19 years ago and is now facing fresh charges, was Wednesday refused interim bail by a court here.

District and sessions judge S.P. Singh said that the anticipatory bail application moved by Rathore will be taken up on the next hearing of the case Jan 1. He has asked Rathores counsel to submit all documents in the court on the next hearing.

Rathore left the court with wife and counsel Abha Rathore immediately afterwards. He did not say anything to the media.

Facing imminent arrest, Rathore Wednesday sought anticipatory bail here, following the registration of two fresh cases against him for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra and then allegedly hounding her till she killed herself.

Carrying a file in his hands, Rathore reached the Panchkula court flanked by his wife, who is also his lawyer. The two fresh FIRs (First Information Report) registered against him include charges for attempt to murder and wrongful confinement.

Rathores counsel told the court that the fresh cases registered against her client were old accusations.

She claimed that in the last 19 years, Ashu, Ruchikas brother, had never made the accusation that Rathore had attempted to murder him. She added that Rathore was in different departments of the police and not connected with cases against Ashu.

Abha Rathore claimed that the same old charges, which were concluded already by various courts, were being raked up and the fresh FIRs were registered on these.

Seeking protection for Rathore from imminent arrest, Abha said that the new FIRs were registered due to media pressure and to humiliate Rathore.

The judge said that he had not seen the case and asked Abha Rathore to furnish copies of the FIR.

The former DGP was Tuesday evening booked by the Panchkula police in two cases on serious and non-bailable criminal charges like attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, forging evidence, wrongful confinement, fabricating false evidence and criminal conspiracy.

In contrast to his smiling face Dec 21 when he was convicted for molesting Ruchika, Rathore Wednesday kept a straight face and avoided answering the barrage of questions thrown at him and his wife by waiting reporters.

In his first appearance since the public outcry over the quantum of sentence for molesting Ruchika, the former Haryana police chief wore a grey coat, sky blue shirt and a navy blue tie.

The government has now ordered a fresh probe into the molestation case and may also charge Rathore with abetment to suicide. Ruchika, a budding tennis player, killed herself three years after the molestation incident in 1990, as Rathore allegedly kept hounding her and her family, including the slapping of false criminal cases against her brother.

Rathore’s six-month jail sentence for molestation and the Rs.1,000 fine came 19 years after the incident.

Ruchika, 15, a budding tennis player was molested by Rathore here Aug 12, 1990. After she and her friends complained to the Haryana government, Rathore allegedly harassed her brother and family, using his powerful position as a senior police officer.

Ruchika, unable to cope with the harassment of her family, committed suicide three years later by consuming poison.