Chandigarh:
SPS Rathore has refused to give any statement to the police against the student who attacked him outside court with a knife on Monday.
The former police officer, accused of driving a teenager to suicide after molesting her, was stabbed three times in the face by Utsav Sharma from Ahemadabad's National Institute of Design. Sharma was arrested after the attack. The police says he has a psychological disorder.
Rathore was on his way from a Chandigarh court to his car at lunch time when a young man holding a camera lunged at him. A policeman standing behind Rathore intervened but by then, Rathore's left cheek had been slashed thrice.
Rathore was whisked away to hospital, holding a handkerchief to his face; there was blood on the ground where he had been standing. He returned to court later with blood stains on his jacket.
The attack was condemned widely by friends of Ruchika Girhotra, who was 14 years old when Rathore allegedly molested her. She killed herself three years later, allegedly because she was unable to cope with Rathore's relentless persecution.
"Whatever happened was wrong, we regret it. Justice should be done only in courts," said Anand Prakash, whose daughter, Aradhana, has been leading the campaign for justice for Ruchika.
"That's not the way to settle scores. One has to be tolerant. After all, law has to take its own course. Whatever the anguish is, you can't take law into your hands. Law should be allowed to take its course," said Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily.
Rathore retired as Haryana's senior-most policeman in 2002. He has been sentenced to six months in prison for molesting Ruchika. Rathore has appealed against that sentence. But he faces more serious charges in new cases filed by Ruchika's friends and family, including abetment of suicide.
The cases against Rathore are being investigated by the CBI.
When Ruchika said that Rathore molested her, he was an Inspector General in the Haryana police. Although a police inquiry found him guilty in 1990, Rathore was promoted repeatedly.