Centre may strip Rathore of medal

The ministry is contemplating sending show cause notices to former DGP S P S Rathore asking why he should not be stripped off of his police medal awarded in 1985 and his pensionary benefits sliced since his conduct was unbecoming of a senior IPS officer.

Rathore was on Monday sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment for molesting Ruchika, a budding tennis player, in 1990 when he was Inspector General of Police.

Highly-placed sources said the ministry may advise the Haryana government to initiate an internal probe to find out who helped Rathore in trying to scuttle the judicial process in the case.

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the 19-year delay was “unpardonable”. The minister said he had discussed the case with the CBI and the Solicitor General of India but was non-committal on whether it will be reopened.

Haryana’s top politicians, who have been accused of being indulgent towards Rathore, washed their hands off blaming each other for shielding him.

Refuting charges of protecting Rathore in the molestation case, former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala blamed his successors Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal for not acting against the police officer.

A day after Ruchika’s father, S C Girhotra accused Chautala and successive governments of protecting Rathore, the Haryana politician said his government had, on the contrary, acted against the police officer.