Withdrawing medals not enough, need for speedy trial: Aradhana

Aradhana, eye-witness in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, today said mere stripping of former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore's police medal was not enough and demanded a change in the system so that justice in molestation cases is not delayed for so long.

Aradhana, eye-witness in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, today said mere stripping of former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore's police medal was not enough and demanded a change in the system so that justice in molestation cases is not delayed for so long.

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"Taking away the medal of Rathore won't be enough.

Rather, we need a change in our system where a young girl is not subjected to such a trauma. For that we need such cases to be dealt by fast track courts so that the victim gets justice within days and not months and years," Aradhana told reporters here.

Aradhana, who was honoured by a Chandigarh-based human rights organisation for waging a fight to get justice for her
late friend Ruchika, said though no amount of monetary compensation would be enough for the victim's family, but she
said the former DGP's property and other assets should be auctioned and its proceeds given to the Girhotra family.

She said that it was shameful that despite the heinous crime, Rathore, who was recently sentenced to six months of
jail in the Ruchika molestation case, was a "free man". The former DGP was immediately released after pronouncement of the judgment by the CBI Court here released on bail.

"He is still a free man. If we had a system where the accused would have been punished immediately, Ruchika's
suicide could have been prevented, but Rathore being an influential person such circumstances were created that she
and her family went through a harrowing time," she said.