The Lost and Found case of Ruchika Girhotra

So on came 2010 and I did welcome it with a big bang. We desire to leave behind all our worries & problems we had and start the New Year with new zeal; afresh. I too did the same. But unfortunately some things can’t be forgotten easily. The transition phase from 2009 to 2010 was pretty much filled by the news about the Girhotra’s.

We all have heard what happened in Ruchika Girhotra case. It has put us Indians to shame. It has created a mockery out of our judicial system. Special thanks to the media for their special coverage of the incident only after which something (though currently at the superficial level) did happen. The government has swung back into action (sort of). But why let this happen in the first place!!! Incumbent maniacs committing heinous crimes & then using their position to silence every voice raised against them. The Ruchika case if you consider was pretty straight-forward. The then president of Haryana lawn tennis association S P S Rathore molested Ruchika, her family lodged an FIR against Rathore, her friend Aradhana was witness to the incident. I think in a conservative country like INDIA, which is much sensitive to the atrocities committed against women & children these sequence of actions would be enough to acquit the culprit without much difficulty. The Indian government has now passed a resolution that even if a woman comes & say that she has been raped that would be considered as a ‘proof’ against the suspect not just a mere statement. Next step should have been to arrest Rathore, & matter would then be taken over to the court. This is all we expect from our system. I mean this is the procedure that is written in our law books. Simple and straight!!!! Isn’t it???

But what did happen was quite the opposite. The police did lodge a FIR but did nothing. It was Ashu (Ruchika’s brother) who did go to jail for crimes he did not commit. All the false cases of theft were registered against him (in total 11 for which he was later acquitted in all by the court). Rathore was an influential person. A man having big status, money & power. He started harassing her family. Harassed is too small word to define what the family went through the last 19 years. Ashu was used as bait and was tortured; subjected to illegal confinement by Crime branch of Panchkula Police allegedly at the behest of Rathore to pressurize the family to take back the complaint registered against him. Hooligans were made to stand outside Ruchika’s house. They would make taunts whenever she left the house. She segregated herself from the society. Ruchika was suspended from the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association. Her school expelled her without citing any reason; her father sold their house at Panchkula. Finally, on December 28, 1993, Ruchika consumed insecticide. She died the next day. She blamed herself for traumatising her family. The traumatised family left the state fearing more harassment. Rathore went on to become the DGP of police; he was even awarded a medal for the extraordinary service he offered.

Sure the sequence of events turned out to be quite out of the book. India boasts of being the biggest democracy in the world. Our judicial system believes in the notion that ‘no innocent should ever get punished’ (time’s no limit though). Yet, there have been instances when these power-hungry evil social elements making fun of our system. Many cases like that of Jessica lall murder, aaushi murder & nitish katara murder more or less belongs to the similar type of background (all involve high-profile people). I bet you should have seen the smile on Rathore’s face when the verdict came in.

Was he laughing at our system?? Why was Rathore made a DGP when already a molestation case was registered against him?? How did he even get a medal?? Why the government always wakes up only after the media takes matters into their hands??Who is responsible for what happened to Ruchika & her family?? There are many unanswered questions. India is on the verge of becoming the next superpower and this is not surely not how we would like to set an example. In the end last but not the least- What if the next Ruchika might be someone very close to us?? What would happen then?? We need to wake up. Wake up early...