Judge reserves decision on Rathore bail plea (Second Lead)

PANCHKULA - A judge here Wednesday deferred for 30 minutes a decision on the interim bail plea of former Haryana top cop S.P.S. Rathore, the man who now faces fresh cases for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra and for allegedly hounding her to suicide afterwards.

Panchkula District and Sessions Judge S.P. Singh said he wanted to study the fresh FIRs (First Information Report) before taking a decision, after he heard Rathore’s wife Abha — a lawyer — plead that the former director general of Haryana police be given interim bail.

Abha Rathore claimed that her husband was being targeted due to media coverage of the case.

Earlier, carrying a file in his hands, Rathore reached the Panchkula court flanked by Abha. The two fresh FIRs (First Information Report) registered against him include charges for attempt to murder and wrongful confinement.

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 top cop wore an olive green jacket over a 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, 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.