Amidst an uproar over the Ruchika molestation issue, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said the entire case against former DGP S P S Rathore should be revisited.
The minister said the state government will explore legal options to reopen the case.
After examining (the case) legally, I think it should be revisited. I
am fully sympathising with the family (of Ruchika)," he said.
Rathore has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika 19 years ago.
Hooda's remarks came after CPM politburo member Brinda Karat met him in
New Delhi to demand an independent probe into the alleged political
patronage Rathore enjoyed after being indicted in the case.
(Watch: Reopen Ruchika's case: Brinda Karat)
Karat, accompanied by friends of Ruchika's family, also sought Hooda's
"pro-active role" in bringing pressure on CBI to reopen the case
against Rathore and to get his bail cancelled in the case.
The Haryana Chief Minister said he had already given instructions to
the DGP of the state to provide "full security" to the family.
"Whatever steps Haryana government has to take after legal
consultations, we will take," he said, pointing out that Union Law
Minister Veerappa Moily has given an assurance that he would examine
the case again.
Karat told reporters outside Hooda's residence here that the Chief
Minister was, however, "non-committal" on the demand for a probe into
the alleged political sheltering the former DGP received from
successive governments.
Karat said she had also urged Hooda to initiate action to deny Rathore
pensionary benefits and dismiss police officers and government
officials, who filed false theft cases against Ruchika's brother Ashu.
She said Hooda assured her and Ruchika's friends that he would support
reopening of the case against Rathore and inclusion of criminal
sections such as abetment of the teenager's suicide after examining the
case.
Meanwhile Ruchika's lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj has said that her post-mortem report was doctored. He also said that the inquest report of police fudged.
(Watch: Ruchika's inquest report fudged: Lawyer)(With PTI inputs)