Demand for longer jail term grows

Pressure mounted on the Centre and Haryana governments on Wednesday to ask the CBI to file an appeal seeking a longer jail term against the former DGP S.P.S. Rathore, found guilty of molesting a 14 year-old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990.

Pressure mounted on the Centre and Haryana governments on Wednesday to ask the CBI to file an appeal seeking a longer jail term against the former DGP S.P.S. Rathore, found guilty of molesting a 14 year-old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990.

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The demand grew louder as details of the Chandigarh court judgment, which found Rathore guilty, showed the court agreed that his crime was fully proved, but failed to give reasons for a mere six month imprisonment.

“The allegations are of moral turpitude. These are serious in nature, particularly in the circumstances, when the victim was a minor,” says the 97-page judgment delivered by Chief Judicial Magistrate, J.S. Sidhu.

The judge rejected Rathore’s request that a lenient view be taken given his age and medical ailment, saying “no grounds are made out to release the convict on probation.:

The judge, however, did not explain why he sentenced Rathore to only six months jail, when the section under which he was convicted provided for a two-year jail term.

I&B Minister, Ambika Soni said “it was extremely important to file the appeal in such a case where a senior police officer had misused his position.”

The CBI, however, is “still examining the judgment and watching related developments,” said an agency official.

A senior official said, “The government will definitely take steps to ensure that the deceased girl’s family is satisfied with the legal remedy.”