Rathore bail hearing adjourned till 12.30 p.m.

PANCHKULA - The hearing of the anticipatory bail plea by disgraced former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, convicted of molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra 19 years ago, was adjourned by a court here till Friday afternoon.

District sessions judge S.P. Singh, after hearing Rathore’s counsel and wife Abha Rathore and Ruchika’s family lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj, asked the state government counsel to provide details of the case at the hearing slated to take place at 12.30 p.m.

Rathore did not come to the court Friday.

His counsel — wife Abha Rathore — told the court that Section 306 of Indian Penal Code (IPC - abetment to suicide) could not be imposed on Rathore since the matter had been dealt with and quashed by the Supreme Court.

She also said that fresh cases registered against Rathore were due to media pressure. The fresh charges being made now, she added, had not been raised in the last 19 years.

The counsel also said that a woman called Veena Girhotra, who was Ruchika’s stepmother, had forced the girl to commit suicide.

However, Bhardwaj countered the arguments saying that there was enough evidence to book Rathore under Section 306 and also for the torture of Ruchika’s brother, Ashu. He said that Ruchika did not have any stepmother.

Rathore was Tuesday booked by Panchkula police in two fresh cases, including the non-bailable attempt to murder charge, after Ruchika’s family filed fresh complaints.

Ruchika, a budding tennis player, was molested by Rathore here Aug 12, 1990. She committed suicide three years later (1993), unable to cope with the harassment of her family and torture of her brother by the Haryana police, which slapped false car theft cases on him.

Rathore was Dec 21 convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Chandigarh. He was sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.