The brute force

The case is in the special CBI court at Ambala and is at the stage of recording evidences of witnesses. So far, it has recorded the evidence of Madhu Prakash—the complainant, her husband and a few others. The recording of the statement of the then DGP, R R Singh, is also on but the court is yet to examine the only eyewitness—Aradhana.

The first inquiry report by R R Singh in 1993 had indicted Rathore and recommended registration of an FIR against him. But the government didn’t act on the report. After three years of harassment—Ruchika’s brother Ashu was falsely booked for six auto thefts—on December 28, 1993, Ruchika committed suicide. She was 17.

IT would have all ended on that note of despair had it not been been for Madhu Prakash. ‘‘Ruchika was like my daughter. I saw her in agony,’’ she says.

After nearly ten years, her efforts paid off and Rathore is now charged with molestation and for implicating Ashu in fake cases. ‘‘They made life for the Girotras hell. Every time Ashu was nabbed, he was pressurised to withdraw the complaint against Rathore,’’ says Anand Prakash, Madhu’s husband and a retired Haryana Government employee.

It was in November 1997 that the Prakashs approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On August 21, 1998, the court ordered a CBI probe. Rathore then approached the Supreme Court which in its December 14, 1999, order upheld the High Court’s decision. In 2001, the CBI filed a chargesheet and two years later charges were framed against Rathore.

As the case goes on in the CBI court, Ruchika’s family and friends pray she gets justice finally in death.