Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala on Friday defended himself in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, saying his government had taken immediate action against former top cop SPS Rathore when a complaint was lodged against him 19 years ago.
Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala on Friday defended himself in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, saying his government had taken immediate action against former top cop SPS Rathore when a complaint was lodged against him 19 years ago.
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"SPS Rathore was chargesheeted during my government. Back then, when the complaint came, an FIR was immediately lodged. Yet my government was not satisfied with the action. Therefore, we ordered a departmental enquiry into the case," Chautala said at a press conference here on Friday.
"It was during the Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal governments that Rathore was promoted, not ours," he added.
On Thursday, Ruchika's father SC Girhotra had blamed Chautala and the entire establishment in Haryana for the harassment that drove his daughter to suicide and forced his family to go underground.
"Chautala was the main person behind him. Rathore used to carry out all his (Chautala's) wrong deeds. Chautala was at his back all the while. Even after RR Singh (the then Haryana DGP in 1990) gave his report recommending registration of a case against Rathore, the government took no action," Girhotra said in Chandigarh.
Fourteen-year-old Ruchika was molested August 12, 1990 and committed suicide three years later. Chautala was the chief minister of Haryana between March and June 1991.
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