Nineteen years after molesting a teenage girl, former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore was sentenced to six months jail term here on Monday. The girl was driven to commit suicide three years later because of police harassment.
CBI special magistrate J.S. Sidhu also imposed a fine of Rs 1000 on Rathore, who will have to further undergo one month of rigorous imprisonment in case of default. a Fourteen-year-old tennis player was molested by Rathore, the then Inspector General of Police in Haryana and President of Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, on August 12, 1990.
Rathore was granted bail by the CBI court special magistrate J.S. Sidhu immediately after his sentencing. The former DGP can now appeal before a higher court against the CBI court order.
ADVERTISEMENT
Her friend and the lone witness in the case, was flown in from Australia where she lives with her husband, for the judgment on Monday. “I was 13 when it happened. I have never been able to forgive myself for not being able to prevent her death,” she said.
The budding tennis star committed suicide in 1993 while her family, because of alleged harassment from the police, moved out of Panchkula. The case was later filed by her friend's parents.
“The sentence is very less even though we are happy that he (Rathore) has been found guilty and sentenced by the court,” said her retired father.
ADVERTISEMENT
Initially Rathore was indicted in an internal inquiry, but no action was taken against him. In 1998, the High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the incident and in 2000, CBI filed the charge sheet and since then, the case was in the trial court.
The CBI court pronounced the judgement in the presence of media persons with the convict’s wife and lawyer objecting to their entry into the courtroom. Rathore’s wife also pleaded leniency on health and age grounds.