Ruchika Girhotra molestation case: Man who fought for justice for 26 years passes away
Prakash had fought the case for his daughter Aradhana Prakash and stood against Rathore at a time when Ruchika’s own father and brother had gone into exile, fearing threat to their life.
74-year-old Anand Prakash, who was a crusader in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case for around 26 years, passed away on Thursday night. Prakash, a resident of Sector 6, Panchkula, was suffering from prostate cancer and admitted at General Hospital, Sector 6.
Ruchika had committed suicide on December 29 in 1993, three years after she was molested by former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore. Rathore’s conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2016.
Prakash had fought the case for his daughter Aradhana Prakash and stood against Rathore at a time when Ruchika’s own father and brother had gone into exile, fearing threat to their life.
Aradhana, who was the witness to the case, is now settled in Ambala with her husband and is running a nursing academy institute, said, "It is a great loss to the family. He was the eldest and everyone from the maternal or the paternal side looked up to him for advice. He always wanted to give and not take anything. He never even sought help from anybody."
She said, “Even an hour before his death, he was willing to stand on his own without any support and was convincing everybody that he was fine. He was also supporting the Varnika Kundu stalking case till he breathed his last."
“After Ruchika’s suicide, our case had fallen flat as without her presence, it was difficult to go ahead with the case. But my father never stepped back even after knowing that his daughter can be on target because I was the witness to the injustice," she said.
"My mother was also cooperative enough as she is a lawyer and has been taking up women related issues for free of cost," said Aradhana.
Anand’s cremation will take place at 4pm on Saturday at the Manimajra cremation ground once his elder daughter arrives from the US.
(Update: Anand Prakash was wrongly mentioned as a lawyer in the earlier version of the story. We regret the error.)