Molester-cop Rathore to lose half his pension, medal

Former Haryana police chief SPS Rathore, convicted for molestation, is set to be stripped of his police medal and could soon find his pension halved as well. The retired police officer was last year convicted of molesting a young girl, Ruchika Girhotra, 19 years ago, who later committed suicide. HT reports.

Former Haryana police chief SPS Rathore, convicted for molestation, is set to be stripped of his police medal and could soon find his pension halved as well.

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The retired police officer was last year convicted of molesting a young girl, Ruchika Girhotra, 19 years ago, who later committed suicide.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil is understood to have cleared the home ministry move to strip Rathore of the President’s Medal for Meritorious Service conferred on him in 1995.

Rathore will be the first officer to suffer the humiliation in recent years.

The 1951 Medal Rules empower the President to cancel the award to any person as well as restore the forfeited medal. Awardees agree — before receiving the award — to return the medal if their names are erased from the register of awardees.

A senior government official said the home ministry was also recommending reduction of the retired police officer’s pension by half to the Union Public Service Commission.