Rathore’s bail extended till Feb 8; court seeks passport

CHANDIGARH - A local court here Wednesday extended the post-conviction bail of disgraced former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case till Feb 8. He was asked not to leave the country and deposit his passport within seven days.

The extension of the bail was done by the court of the additional district and sessions judge Raj Shekhar Attri against a bail bond of Rs.100,000. The case will be heard by the court continuously for three days Feb 8, 9 and 10.

The court order came after Rathore filed an appeal against his conviction in the molestation case by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Chandigarh Dec 21.

The CBI court 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. He was granted bail immediately after his conviction.

CBI counsel C.P. Pandey Wednesday said the CBI will seek enhancement of Rathore’s sentence when it files its reply before the court next month. He said the agency took over the probe into the three fresh First Information Reports (FIRs) against the former top cop only one day ago and needed 1-2 weeks’ time to file its reply in the appeal against conviction filed by Rathore.

Earlier, seeking extension of the 30-day bail period given to Rathore to file an appeal against his conviction, Rathore’s counsel and wife Abha Rathore said he was a 68-year-old man who had undergone heart surgery. She added that Rathore was not a threat to anyone and was not running away from questioning.

She said it was not Rathore who delayed the molestation case for 19 years but the complainants and the CBI were responsible for it.

Pankaj Bhardwaj, the lawyer for complainants Anand Prakash and Madhu Prakash, opposed any relief to Rathore on his conviction.

Bhardwaj said the special investigation team (SIT) of the Haryana police was repeating history by trying to help Rathore. He added that the CBI should be allowed to complete its investigation in the case.

A former Haryana director general of police (DGP), Rathore has been slapped with three fresh cases, including attempt to murder, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, tampering and forging evidence.

Ruchika had committed suicide in 1993 due to the alleged harassment by Rathore.