Chandigarh: Former senior police officer S P S Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, perhaps disgusts the country. But he is smiling.
A Chandigarh court on Wednesday extended the post-conviction bail of Rathore in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case till February 8. He was asked not to leave the country and deposit his passport within seven days.
Speaking to reporters after the court order, Rathore said he will not comment on the case but he will keep smiling because he is an admirer of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
“I will not comment on anything under investigation, but I will comment on what you (media) have often talked about: my smile,” he said.
“If any one of you come to my home you will find a photo in my drawing room in which my wife and lawyer, who was nine years old, gifting flowers to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru,” said Rathore.
“I used to run away with my friends in university to just catch a glimpse of this greatest son of India. I learnt to smile even in adversity from him. If you target me more I will smile more,” he said.
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has held Rathore guilty of molesting 14-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, in Panchkula town on August 12, 1990 and sentenced him to six months' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. He was granted bail immediately after his conviction.
A former Haryana director general of police (DGP), Rathore has been slapped with three fresh cases, including attempt to murder, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, tampering and forging evidence.
Ruchika had committed suicide in 1993 due to alleged harassment by Rathore.
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