The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notices to the Centre and the CBI on a PIL seeking a probe into expulsion of Ruchika Girhotra from a local school and the hardships her family underwent at the instance of disgraced former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore.
The notices were issued by a
division bench comprising Chief Justice Mukul Moudgil and Justice Jasbir Singh to the Union of India, the state of Haryana, CBI and Rathore on the PIL filed by an NGO, Global Human Rights Council through its Chairman Ranjan Lakhanpal, a local practicing lawyer. The notices are returnable on January 27.
The PIL submitted said that certain aspects in the Ruchika molestation case needed to be probed so that the family of the victim got justice and the accused, especially those holding high positions, were brought to book.
The PIL comes in the backdrop of the public uproar after 67-year-old Rathore got away with a light punishment of six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000 for molesting the 14-year-old girl. The NGO sought a thorough probe into the case, including the circumstances leading to the suicide of Ruchika three years after her molestation by Rathore in 1990, besides booking of her brother Ashu in false cases, including dacoity. The Sacred Heart School, which had expelled Ruchika on the ground of non-payment of fees, is among the respondents in the PIL. The court, however, has not issued any notice to the school.