May 11: The district and sessions court at Chandigarh has reserved its verdict on former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore’s petition challenging his earlier conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.
Judge Gurbir Singh, at the culmination of continuous, day-to-day hearings in the case since May 3, announced that he would pronounce verdict on Thursday, May 20. The verdict is expected to also include the court’s decision on the CBI’s own plea seeking enhancement of the six month prison term Rathore was awarded by the trial court in December, 2009.
Mr Subhash Chander Girhotra, whose daughter Ruchika committed suicide after she was molested by the former police officer, is hoping for “a major enhancement in the punishment given to Rathore.”
His lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj also said that full justice had not been served by the trial court and that Ruchika’s family and friends would only be satisfied when her tormentor is awarded the maximum possible sentence and fine. Legal experts say if the conviction is upheld by the sessions court Rathore could well be arrested and jailed pending further appeal in the high court.
While the court’s verdict will only be known on May 20, the former DGP has already been stripped of the Presidential Police Medal awarded to him for meritorious service in 1985. The decoration was recalled consequent to an order from the MHA. Notably, hearings in the sessions court were held in camera after Rathore’s wife and counsel Abha Rathore objected to reporters’ presence on various grounds.