June 2, 2010
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court today reserved till tomorrow its order on a bail petition by former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.
Vacation judge justice Ajay Tiwari reserved his order after hearing arguments
from CBI counsel Anmol Rattan Sidhu and Ajay
Kaushik, Rathore's lawyer-wife Abha and Ruchika's family
lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj for over an hour.
68-year-old Rathore is undergoing the sentence in high security Burail jail after being awarded one-and-a-half years prison term by a local court on May 25 for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, on August 12, 1990.
The local court had enhanced Rathore's six months jail term while allowing the pleas of CBI and the Girhotra family. Ruchika had committed suicide three years after the incident.
The CBI which probed the case has strongly opposed the disgraced DGP's bail
plea, saying "he must undergo some part
of marginal sentence awarded to him."
As the hearing resumed in a jam-packed court room, Abha Rathore submitted
that the lower courts while pronouncing
their judgments did not take into consideration the site plan
of the purported crime.
"It was improbable and impossible to molest Ruchika as there were 15 persons present on the occasion and even the place was clearly visible as it had glass windows. The complaint had forged signatures of Ruchika done by seven people," she alleged.
She submitted that at least 12 defence witnesses were not examined and the
case was a fall out of rivalry between Haryana Lawn Tennis Association (HLTA)
headed by Rathore and
Haryana Tennis Association.
Abha contended that the then DGP R R Singh, who conducted the inquiry in this case, had a grudge against her husband.
"There was an unholy alliance among certain newspapers, bureaucrats and
police officers to defame Rathore," she
alleged.
She submitted that there were at least 20 contradictions in the deposition of Aradhana, the prime witness in the case.
"Aradhana has become a heroine in the media while living
in Australia and never thought earlier to pursue the case,"
she said.
She contended that Anand Parkash, father of Ruchika's friend Aradhana, was dismissed from government service.
"The daughter (Ruchika) and her father (S C Girhotra) had not filed complaint in this case," she submitted.
She said that even R R Singh did not bother to visit the site where the purported crime took place.
Besides, the then coach T Thomas, HLTA manager Kuldeep
Singh and ball picker Paltoo too were not examined by the CBI.
Abha alleged that she has a "tape on record where Girhotra is settling for Rs 30 lakh in this case...even the Investigation Officer too had recorded that the signatures of Ruchika were forged."
"The case is moving on forged and unreliable evidences and documents and the media is being abused in it," Abha contended while seeking bail for her husband.
She submitted that Ruchika was suspended from playing in the HLTA due to indiscipline. "Even days after alleged molestation, Ruchika came to the HLTA in the evening to play tennis," she contended.
"It was after Ruchika was stopped from playing at the HLTA, the rivals conspired to fix Rathore," she alleged.
Describing the trial in the case as "unfair", Abha submitted that "we took only adjournment for heart surgery of Rathore while the CBI took 18 adjournments."
Objecting to the bail plea of Rathore, CBI counsel Sidhu pleaded that "the nature of offence had to be seen...it is a case not to be heard by the future generation. The life of a young girl was lost by who and with whom has to be seen," he contended.
He told the court that the site plan of the crime was considered and the lower courts too had evaluated and appreciated the CBI's evidence.
"The CBI has direct evidence against Rathore," Sidhu submitted while adding that Paltoo did not appear during the hearing of the case.
Ruchika's family counsel Pankaj Bhardwaj contended that Rathore's act was
"pre-meditated". "Rathore asked Aradhana to
go out of the office with an intent to make advancement
towards Ruchika," he submitted.
"After the crime, Rathore tried to take Girhotra into confidence and asked him to come to his offce, but he did not go thinking he might be framed in a false case," Bhardwaj submitted.
Bhardwaj said after the crime Rathore had suspended Ruchika from the HLTA for 15 days. "On one hand Rathore approaches the father of Ruchika telling him that she is a fine player and he will help her in building her career and on the other he suspends her," he contended.
He submitted that Rathore even tried to remove eyewitnesses in this case.
Objecting bail, he said "the precedent is that the convict spents some part of sentence...here in this case its a 20 years of long battle."
During the hearing, Girhotra - father of deceased Ruchika- stood up and urged the judge that he wanted to make some request but the court told him that his counsel was present here.
Ajay Kaushik, the CBI counsel, submitted that Ruchikadid not raise alarm when she was molested as Paltoo and T Thomas were standing on other side of the road in front of the HLTA office at Panchkula.
Abha contended that Pankaj Bhardwaj was addressing the court not on evidences but he is making stories.
She told the court that "Girhotra is trying to extract as much money as he can...besides he is already convicted by a court in a corruption case."
"Aradhana is a clever girl, she comes from Australia...they are not so simple as being projected through glorified storis in media," Abha contended.
"Its totally a false case,"she pleaded while adding that it was not possible to emrace the girl when Rathore was sitting across the table.