New Delhi:
Why did it take 19 years for a verdict in the case of 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra? She was molested in 1990, and she filed her complaint against Inspector General SPS Rathore soon after that. She killed herself in 1993.
The CBI took over Ruchika's case in 2000. It filed its chargesheet against Rathore within 11 months. And then Rathore began manipulating the system. Investigating officials say that Rathore delayed the trial by managing to get it transferred thrice. It moved from CBI courts in Ambala to Patiala and finally to Chandigarh, where, on Monday, Rathore was given six months in prison. He used other technical grounds like demanding that the trial be videographed to cause more delays.
Last month, the CBI convinced the High Court in Chandigarh to set a one-month deadline for both sides to make their case. On Monday, the court sentenced Rathore to six months in prison, a verdict that has led to public outraged.
But the CBI also has some explaining to do. Ruchika's friends have argued that Rathore should have been charged with abetment to suicide amounting to murder, instead of being accused only of molestation. The CBI said Rathore could not be linked to her death because Ruchika killed herself three years after the alleged molestation. However, its own chargesheet says, "The investigation has also disclosed that after the incident of molestation of Ms Ruchika..she remained confined her to her house and remained depressed. Later, she committed suicide."