Rathore gets interim bail

After hearing the arguments of Rathore’s counsel wife, Abha, the district and sessions judge S P Singh allowed interim bail to Rathore on furnishing Rs two lakh bail bonds in the two cases.

The court has also asked the Haryana government to file its reply to the court a day before the next hearing of Rathore's anticipatory bail plea on January 7.

Arguing for her husband, Abha accused the complainants — Subhash Chander Girhotra, father and Ashu, brother of the victim, Ruchika; of misrepresenting facts in the court with the intention of becoming “heroes” in the public eye.

Pankaj Bhardwaj, the counsel representing the complainants, said the court’s ruling was not a setback and added he would contest Rathore’s anticipatory bail plea on January 7. “It is a temporary relief, for Rathore,” he said.

However, Aradhana, a close friend of Ruchika, then 15, who had accompanied her on the fateful day in 1990 when Rathore molested the victim, said she was “disappointed” that Rathore was still roaming free instead of being in jail.

Rathore was convicted of molestation by a CBI court on December 21 last – 19 years after the molestation incident and was awarded six months’ imprisonment. Ruchika, had committed suicide three years after the incident in 1993 after persistent harassment of the family at the behest of Rathore, then an inspector general of police.

Public outcry against “light punishment” to Rathore resulted in boosting the confidence of Girhotra family as Ruchika’s father and brother came out of self-imposed hibernation and filed fresh cases against Rathore this week which included attempt to murder, illegal confinement and torture of Ashu and fabrication of Ruchika’s post mortem report at the behest of Rathore.

Ashu had filed another complaint against S P S Rathore on Thursday pressing for abetment to suicide charge against Rathore after arguing that the police officer’s harassment of the family had driven his sister to suicide in 1993.