Chandigarh:
SPS Rathore walked out of a prison neat Chandigarh with a smile on his face - provoking comparisons to December, when he smiled as he left a court after being convicted for molesting a 14-year-old named Ruchika Girhotra.
Rathore was accompanied by his wife, Abha, who is a lawyer and defended him in court. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Thursday. The CBI, which is investigating the charges against him, did not oppose his bail because there was no evidence against Rathore in two cases. They had, however, opposed the bail earlier.
Rathore has appealed in Supreme Court against his conviction.
Rathore was sentenced in December 2009 to six months in prison for molesting Ruchika in 1990. The CBI and Ruchika's family appealed for tougher punishment, and a Haryana court then increased the sentence to 18 months. In May, he was arrested.
In 1993, Ruchika committed suicide - her family says she couldn't cope with a relentless campaign undertaken by Rathore after she filed a formal complaint against him. (
Watch: Disappointed with CBI, says Ruchika's father)
Despite that, Rathore enjoyed a series of promotions and retired as Haryana's senior-most policeman. (
Watch: The CBI never informed us anything, says Ruchika's father)
In September, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed his appeal against his conviction, describing his conduct as a top official "shameful."
Rathore then took his case to the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.
It has been a week of reprieves for Rathore. On Thursday, the CBI said it had no evidence in two of three cases filed against him by the Girhotras this year. Ruchika's brother, Ashu ,had accused him of torturing him and jailing him on false pretexts. The Girhotras said that Rathore had tampered with Ruchika's post-mortem report. These two cases have been closed. A third - still being investigated - says that Rathore should be held responsible for abetment of suicide because she was unable to cope with his relentless persecution of Ruchika's family after she complained against him in 1990.
The two-decade long fight for justice caught India's attention in December - when Rathore was convicted. Since then, Ruchika's case has been compared to that of Jessica Lall's and Priyadarshini Mattoo's - deaths where middle-class Indian families were pitted against powerful opponents who were able to use their offices to prolong their trials and influence others who could protect them.