Zeenews Bureau
Chandigarh: Former DGP of Haryana RR Singh, who had been probing the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, told the media that the law had not been stringent in punishing the accused, ex-DGP SPS Rathore.
Voicing his resentment, Singh remarked that Rathore had shown a total lack of cooperation and had even gone to the extent of threatening the hapless victim and pressurising her to his advantage.
He alleged that the guilty cop had even warned him of grim consequences if the former went against him. Singh also stated that Rathore wanted to prolong the case.
The police official, who wrote the first report in the case, also lamented that the laws of the country were not strict enough to nail a culprit for molesting a minor.
His report had concluded that Rathore had indeed molested Ruchika and that he should be punished.
Earlier in the day, disgraced but defiant Rathore said the Ruchika Girhotra molestation "case is still not over" and he would soon approach a higher court to appeal against his conviction.
"Right now, I do not want to comment on the court's verdict or about this case as it is still not over. I will further move an appeal in a higher court very soon," Rathore told from his Panchkula residence.
Rathore was on Monday convicted by a special CBI court here in the Aug 12, 1990, Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. The 14-year-old budding 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.
The complainants against Rathore, Anand and Madhu Prakash, whose daughter Aradhana was the prime witness to the molestation incident, and their lawyer also opine that the punishment given to Rathore - six months in jail - is too little.
with IANS inputs
First Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 19:24