M A I N   N E W S

Rathore case: CBI final report any time
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 18 — The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to file the final report (challan) in the Ruchika molestation case (popularly known as the Rathore case) “any time, any day”, say informed sources.

The investigations by the CBI into the case are already four months past the deadline set by the Supreme Court which had stated on December 14, 1999, that the incident “being of the year 1990, the investigating agency should conclude the investigation as expeditiously as possible, preferably within six months from today.”

The sources say the CBI Director, Mr R.K. Raghavan, IPS, is leaving for a week-long foreign tour in a day or two. It is expected that he would clear the challan before going abroad.

The case has its genesis on the courts of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association of which the present Director-General of Haryana police, Mr S.P.S. Rathore, was the president in 1990 and the 14-year-old Ruchika, a school-going daughter of a bank officer, was one of the players. Ruchika, who was well-built for her age, was allegedly molested by Mr Rathore on August 12, 1990, when he called her to the office of the association. Ruchika was accompanied by her friend and tennis partner, Ms Reemu, who was sent out of the room by Mr Rathore ostensibly to call the coach to the office. But Reemu returned sooner than expected by Mr Rathore, who was then an Inspector-General of Police. Though Ruchika confided in Reemu, the girls out of fear of Mr Rathore’s position, did not report the matter to their parents.

Ruchika had lost her mother a few months ago. However, when Mr Rathore again called Ruchika to his office on August 14, the girls talked to their parents. The rest is history. On a representation given by the parents of the girls and certain other residents of the area, the then Chief Minister, Mr Hukam Singh, asked the then DGP, Haryana, Mr R.R. Singh, to inquire into the allegations against Mr Rathore.

Mr R.R. Singh concluded: “In Indian society no girl or any parent would lodge a false complaint of physical molestation of this nature for obvious reasons... I am of the considered view that whatever Miss Ruchika...has stated...is based on true facts. I am of the considered opinion that a cognizable offence is made out. I would, therefore, recommend that a case under the appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code be got registered on the statement of Miss Ruchika and investigated.”

He submitted the report to the state government on September 3, 1990.

The noting-sheet of the file dealing with the report of Mr R.R. Singh makes interesting reading. It shows how an indifferent political leadership and bureaucracy can frustrate the common man’s quest for justice.

Immediately after the receipt of the inquiry report, the then Financial Commissioner, Home (FCH), Mr J.K. Duggal, wrote on September 4, 1990, that a case under Sections 354 and 342 should be registered and investigated by the Crime Branch. The then Home Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, referred the file to law officers of the state on September 27, 1990, to know their opinion if the criminal case against Mr Rathore could be lodged.

On December 21, 1990, the Law Department said that there was no legal bar on the registration of the case. After that a new DGP, Mr R.K. Hooda, took over. Prof Sampat Singh wanted on January 25, 1991, that the opinion of Mr Hooda should also be sought. Mr Hooda recommended departmental action against Mr Rathore.

However, Mr Tarlochan Singh, IAS who had by then taken over as the FCH disagreed. He felt that if no action was taken, the people would have no confidence in the government. Prof Sampat Singh and Mr Hukam Singh, the then Chief Minister, agreed with Mr Hooda and ordered that Mr Rathore should be charge-sheeted. By then there was a change of government.

In his reply Mr Rathore challenged the competency of the state government to charge-sheet him because at the time of the incident, he was on deputation. The case was referred to the then Legal Remembrancer, Mr R.K. Nehru, who later became a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, by Mr Tarlochan Singh, who now felt that the lapse of so much time might have weakened the case. Mr Nehru upheld the contention of Mr Rathore on June 30, 1992, but also opined that an FIR could be registered against Mr Rathore on the basis of an entry made in the roznamcha after the alleged incident of molestation.

Mr Tarlochan Singh sent the file to the Chief Minister. The then Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr Dhanendra Kumar, sent the file to the Chief Secretary for advice on August 12, 1992. The file remained in the Chief Secretary’s office for a couple of years.

Meanwhile, Ruchika allegedly committed suicide on December 29, 1993. Reemu and her mother, Mrs Madhu Anand Prakash, who are fighting to get justice for the dead girl, allege that Ruchika was forced to commit suicide because Mr Rathore not only got her expelled from the school because of his high position but also harassed her family by getting her brother implicated in false cases. This is denied by Mr Rathore.

The Rathore file resurfaces. The Chief Secretary writes in January, 1994, that the complaint against Mr Rathore may be filed because a considerable period had elapsed and the alleged aggrieved party had not agitated the matter further nor “it appeared to have taken any action to file a criminal complaint against Mr Rathore.”

A strange argument. The then Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, agreed with the Chief Secretary.

After waiting for several years, the complainant asks for an official copy of the R.R. Singh inquiry report, which was supplied to her in July, 1997. Mrs Anand Prakash moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directs the CBI to investigate the charges against Mr Rathore, who filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, which upheld the high court’s decision.

Though the CBI wrote to the state government about the desirability of shifting Mr Rathore from the post of DGP in the interest of fair investigation, the state in its wisdom ignored the CBI contention. Meanwhile, the delay in the submission of the final report by the CBI has affected the morale of the police force in Haryana.

Mr Rathore himself wrote a letter to the CBI Director which confirmed what the man on the street had been knowing and saying for a long time. Mr Rathore admitted in the letter that the Haryana police was faction-ridden. He alleged that he was being targeted by his colleagues. Mr Rathore went to the extent of alleging that a private person on the complainant’s side was threatening to eliminate him (the DGP).

Mr Rathore also objected to the appointment of the IG and the SP, CBI, on account of their alleged proximity to Mr R.R. Singh, former DGP, because they belonged to the same community.

Mr Rathore’s colleagues say as a team leader it is his duty to bring about unity in the force he commands. If the force remains faction-ridden, as admitted by Mr Rathore, it puts a question mark on his claim to be the leader of the force. Moreover, if the DGP of a state feels insecure, how can the political leadership of that state fulfil its primary obligation of providing security of life and property to its constituents.

If the CBI indicts Mr Rathore for his alleged abetment to suicide (Section 306, IPC), it can adopt two courses of action. One, it can secure warrants from a judicial court and arrest Mr Rathore. Alternatively, the agency can leave it to the court to issue notice to Mr Rathore to secure his presence before it. It will be for the court to either release him on bail or send him to jail.