SC backed Rathore in ’05

An earlier probe ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court into the allegations of Ruchika Girhotra’s brother Ashu had been quashed by the Supreme Court.

An earlier probe ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court into the allegations of Ruchika Girhotra’s brother Ashu had been quashed by the Supreme Court.

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The allegations were the same as those made in the complaint Ashu filed on Tuesday: that he was implicated in false cases, arrested and tortured by the Haryana Police.

Reacting to a newspaper report in December 2000, on the way Ashu had been tormented, the high court directed a Patiala district judge to probe the allegations. Almost a year later, Ashu too filed an affidavit detailing how he had been harassed.

Rathore appealed to the Supreme Court against the probe order. The court stayed the probe. In May 2005, a bench headed by former Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal (then only a Supreme Court judge) ruled in favour of Rathore.

Noting the harassment Ashu referred to in the years 1993 to 1996 — between Ruchika’s molestation and her suicide — the court wondered why Ashu’s affidavit was filed so late. “The respondent …is neither illiterate, nor any other factor brought to our notice which compelled him to remain silent,” the court observed.