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Girhotra: Rathore’s bail should be cancelled
Chandigarh, December 27 “Wipe the smile off his face. His smile is a slap on the system of justice of this nation. He is no ordinary man. He is dangerous to society and his bail should be cancelled,” said an emotionally fraught Girhotra during at a public forum discussion for CNN-IBN TV channel here today. Calling for a complete social boycott of the Rathores, Girhotra recalled the treatment meted out by the Haryana police to his son Ashu allegedly on the insistence of Rathore. “My son was picked up and confined by the Central Intelligence Agency staff in Ambala. I found him after two days. He had been stripped and had been mercilessly beaten up. Then he was made to parade naked in our street. And on the day Ruchika died he was still with the police and left only a day after her suicide,” said Girhotra. Squarely blaming the politicians of Haryana for having supported Rathore Girhotra added, “It took years for the basic FIR to be lodged. Had an FIR been lodged earlier my daughter would have been alive today.” Ruchika committed suicide three years after the incident reportedly immediately after her brother Ashu was allegedly paraded naked on the road where the Girhotras lived by the police. Alleging that the CBI too seemed to have worked under “pressure” and compromised the investigation at several stages the Girhotra family’s lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj today pointed out that the CBI had till date not even bothered to record Ashu’s statements. “We will press for the addition of Section 306 of the IPC (abetment to suicide) in the case and would be moving the Supreme Court. The chemical examination report following the post-mortem report clearly states that Ruchika died after consuming an insecticide. This report was provided to the CBI but they chose to ignore it,” said Bhardwaj. Girhotra also came down heavily on the private convent school here, which expelled Ruchika on the ground of non-payment of fees. “This was just a flimsy reason school authorities invented to rusticate Ruchika. It was well within the school rules that late fees could be deposited with a fine of Rs 30. She had been studying in the same school for 11 years and all of a sudden she stood expelled without any valid reason," he said.
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Lawyer defends Rathore, ex-CBI man indicts him Chandigarh, December 27 However, a former CBI officer, who handled the investigation against Rathore, today alleged that he (Rathore) had managed to get the charge of abetment of suicide dropped from the charge sheet, besides making attempts to bribe officers handling the probe. Ajay Jain, who represented Rathore for some time during his trial, said the “media hype” created in the case was not supported by the facts. He said the entire trial was conducted in consonance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. If any party had any grievance it could prefer an appeal or the revision in the appropriate court of law. He said the issue of abetment to suicide had already achieved the finality as the Supreme Court had earlier affirmed the verdict of Punjab and Haryana High Court of setting aside the judgement of the trial court adding Section 306 IPC in the trial. He said it was wrong on the part of Ruchika’s family to claim now that Veena was not her stepmother and she was not married to Subhash Girhotra. However, he said, even before the court during the trial as well as during an enquiry conducted by the District and Sessions Judge, Patiala, under the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Subhash stated on oath that Veena was his wife. Even Ashu, Ruchika’s brother, had admitted during his cross-examination that Veena was his step -mother. Jain said he could not understand the motive behind the Girhotra’s denial. Meanwhile, former CBI Joint Director R.M. Singh today claimed that Rathore had managed to get the charge of abetment of suicide dropped from the charge sheet by influencing his senior colleagues. Singh, who was in charge of the probe, claimed he had recommended molestation charges, the charge of abetment of suicide, forging of document in his report. He also alleged that Rathore did make attempts to bribe
him. "What had happened later, I don't know because the file had gone to higher officers and Rathore came to know about my recommendations," he added.“I think there were elements to help him," he said, adding that Rathore had even offered all help when he (Singh) was constructing a house, the former officer alleged. He claimed that he had brought all these developments to the notice of his seniors. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the chemical analyses of Ruchika’s viscera revealed the presence of some insecticide.
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