Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Former Haryana Chief Minister and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala on Friday dismissed allegations that he had supported ex-DGP SPS Rathore in the Ruchika molestation case.
Chautala instead blamed the previous Congress governments of Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal for “promoting and ignoring” the case.
“My government was not satisfied with the FIR and we started a departmental inquiry against him (Rathore). We had even filed a chargesheet against Rathore,” Chautala said.
“Rathore had the DGP post during Bansi Lal’s government and not in my tenure. We had, in fact, dismissed him. Rathore was promoted either during Banshi Lal or Bhajan Lal’s government not in my tenure,” he clarified.
But when relentlessly quizzed by the media as to why he had not taken any strict action against the tainted police official, he said, “The matter was judicial then. I could not have acted against him as it would have been be tantamount to contempt of court.”
Yesterday, Ruchika's father Girhotra had said, “Rathore was the right hand man of Chautala and he used him for serving all his selfish purposes and that is why Rathore was saved even after molesting the teenager.”
Rathore was convicted by a special CBI court on December 21 in the August 12, 1990, Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. The tennis player had committed suicide in December 1993, three years after the incident, following her and her family's continuous harassment allegedly at the behest of Rathore.
Rathore, who was an IG in Haryana police when the molestation incident took place, continued to be promoted by successive governments in the state despite the charges against him. He became Haryana DGP (October 1999-December 2000) during the rule of chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
A Chandigarh court on Monday sentenced Rathore to sis months of jail in the case.
Chautala today expressed shock at his name being drawn in the case and refused to comment on the quantum of punishment given to Rathore. When pestered for a reaction he said it was natural to condemn what had happened with Ruchika.
He distanced him from Rathore, saying he was himself a Jat and Rathore was a Rajput and there was no meeting ground between the two.
First Published: Friday, December 25, 2009, 12:13