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'Bubbly Ruchika turned recluse overnight'
A student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, Ruchika Girhotra was a bright, bubbly 14-year-old and popular among friends.
A student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, Ruchika Girhotra was a bright, bubbly 14-year-old and popular among friends.
That was till August 12, 1990, the day she was molested by S.P.S. Rathore, then an inspector general in the Haryana Police and president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association.
The three years she lived after that saw Ruchika turn into a recluse and gradually slip into depression.
“I knew Ruchika since 1988. She had lost her mother about three years before we met,” said her friend Aradhana Parkash, recalling the time they spent together in the same locality in Sector 6, Panchkula before she was molested. “Her house was a five-minute walk from mine. She would visit us often and became close to my mother.”
Ruchika was a “jovial, naughty and fun-loving” person, Aradhana narrated, her eyes welling up. “Everyone liked to be with her.”
Ruchika had begun taking tennis classes in the early 1990s and picked up the game within months. “She used to me give me
tips to improve my game,” Aradhana said. “We were like any other teenager, ready to take on the world.”
But after August 12, 1990, Ruchika’s world changed. She lost faith in people, especially older people, Aradhana said.
She stopped socialising but would meet Aradhana sometimes. “She would swing from being a pessimist to a determined girl ready to fight Rathore till he was punished,” she recalled.
Ruchika stayed with her father S.C. Girhotra and brother Ashu. “Initially, she wouldn’t share much with them either,” Aradhana said. “She would confine herself to the house and come out only after much persuasion.”
Then one day, she was expelled from school. “No reason was cited. She was shattered,” Aradhana said. “Though she did go on to do her matriculation privately, she lost interest in studies.”
When Ashu was implicated in false cases, including 11 cases in a single year, Ruchika blamed herself for “ruining” his life, Aradhana said. Ashu wanted to be an army officer..”
“Each day during that period, Ruchika slipped deeper into depression. She went into a shell,” Aradhana said. “Probably, that’s why I couldn’t gauge her thoughts and prevent her from taking the extreme step.”
