Rathore finally speaks, says he will ’smile more’

CHANDIGARH - Breaking his silence for the first time since he was convicted in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, disgraced former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore Wednesday taunted the media saying that he will “smile more” if the media tried to harm him.

Fighting legal battles and fresh cases slapped on him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Haryana police, Rathore, whose triumphant smile after his conviction in the 19-year-old molestation became the butt of ridicule in the media, said: “You want to know the secret of this smile, I will tell you.”

“If you come to my drawing room, you will find a photograph at the central-point of me, my wife and my nine-year-old son offering flowers to the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It takes me back to my old Lucknow University days when I used to run with other boys just to have a glimpse of this great son of India.”

“I have learnt the lesson to smile in adversity from Pandit Nehru. If you succeed to harm me more, I will smile more.”

Rathore said that he was not running away from anything.

He also taunted the media saying: “I will not destroy the judicial system as you are doing.”

But Rathore refused to say anything about the cases against him.

“If you want me to speak about anything which is part of judicial proceedings and subject of investigation, I will not speak,” he said.

A CBI court in Chandigarh had held Rathore guilty of molesting 15-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, in Panchkula town Aug 12, 1990 and sentenced him to six-months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.

A former Haryana director general of police (DGP), Rathore has been slapped with three fresh charges, including attempt to murder, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, tampering and forging evidence. The cases will now be investigated by the CBI.

Rathore has been accused of using his powerful position as a police officer to circumvent the system and law and get away with things in the molestation case of the teenaged budding tennis player, Ruchika.