Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi/Chandigarh: In what could be termed as a heart wrenching story of police apathy, at par with Jessica Lall murder case and Nitish Katara murder case, brother of molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra has given details of their ordeal at the hand of convicted ex-DGP of Haryana, SPS Rathore.
Ashu Girhotra, while talking to media persons, gave horrendous details of his torture at the behest of Rathore after Ruchika refused to budge under his pressure to take the case back.
Recounting the ordeal faced by him on September 23, 1993, when a jeep full of plain clothed police officials picked him up and took him to a police post in Chandigarh, where they tortured him, reportedly at the behest of ex-DGP Rathore who even had him tortured in his presence.
For a brother, it was even more terrible to miss her sister’s funeral as he was in police custody when his father informed him of Ruchika's suicide.
He said, "My father came the next day. He was shocked seeing me lie on the bed and I came to know that my sister Ruchika has committed suicide and even the funeral of my sister was over when I came back home."
Ashu’s statement read, "Out of fear my sister started confining herself in the house because whenever she went out, she was harassed by the people of Rathore by using vulgar language. She also used to weep before me that her career has been spoiled."
He further said, "I was picked up from my house on 23rd Sep '93 when I was in the market place. The people who lifted me were in plain clothes. They drove me in the jeep to CIA post in Mansa Devi. They tortured me. After some time Rathore also came there and asked the police officials as to whether they have served/punished me well."
Ashu also added that SPS Rathore himself used to torture him and that he was forced to lie on the ground and a roller called ‘Mussal' in the police language was used to be rolled over his legs.
14-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, was molested in 1990 by Rathore, the then Inspector General of Police. She committed suicide three years later by consuming poison.
A person convicted of abetment to suicide by a minor can be punished with death penalty or life imprisonment or a jail term upto 10 years under Sec 305 of the IPC.
67-year-old Rathore was on Monday convicted by a special CBI court on charges of molesting Ruchika and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment. Rathore, who got bail, said he would appeal against the verdict. The verdict has led to an uproar from various quarters of the society who have complained about the meagre punishment handed out to Rathore.
First Published: Friday, December 25, 2009, 09:58