Ruchika's school to explain reasons for her sudden expulsion

Ruchika Girhotra's school Sacred Heart Convent is due to explain the reason why they expelled her in 1990 on the grounds of non payment of fee, reports said today.

Ruchika Girhotra's school Sacred Heart Convent is due to explain the reason why they expelled her in 1990 on the grounds of non payment of fee, media reports said on Thursday.

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The Chandigarh administration officials will question Principal of Sacred Heart Sister Sebastina. The inquiry is led by officer Prerna Puri in the case.

Chandigarh administration has already ordered an inquiry into the school's role in the expulsion of Ruchika.

The convent school, of which Ruchika Girhotra was an alumna, on Wednesday said it was trying to ascertain whether she was expelled from the institution under pressure or was withdrawn by her family after the molestation incident.

"We are trying to ascertain whether she was expelled or withdrawn by her family from the school," Father Thomas, a spokesman of the Sacred Heart School, told reporters in Chandigarh.

The school, located in the Union Territory, allegedly expelled teenager Ruchika, a budding tennis player who was molested by top cop S P S Rathore in 1990.

Terming the molestation incident and her subsequent suicide as unfortunate, Father Thomas said the school would fully cooperate with the Chandigarh administration which had ordered a probe into the causes that led to her expulsion from the institution.

"I do not believe that the school would have expelled her due to any pressure," he said.

An SDM visited the school today in connection with the probe and took into possession some documents, official sources said.

Madhu Parkash, mother of Aradhana, a friend of Ruchika, who has been vigorously pursuing the molestation case, had filed a complaint before the Chandigarh Administration alleging harassment of the girl by the school authorities.

Rathore's daughter was also a student of the same class in which Ruchika studied.

Rathore a 1965 batch IPS officer of Haryana, who retired in 2002, was awarded a six-months jail term by a CBI court here last week for molesting Ruchika when he was the IGP.

(With PTI inputs)