The Story of Ruchika Girhotra, Who Was Molested by Senior Police Officer SPS Rathore in 1990

American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The case of Ruchika Girhotra is one such prominent case study in which injustice continued for decades and is remembered as a stain on the Indian judicial system and the country’s law and order system.

A 14-year-old girl was molested by a high-ranking police personnel named Shambu Pratap Singh Rathore, and when she complained against him, all hell broke loose for the Girhotra family. Ruchika was expelled from her school, her family was harassed, and fake cases were registered against her father and her 10-year-old brother. After enduring years of torture, Ruchika Girhotra died on 29 December 1993 at the mere age of 17.

It took years for SPS Rathore to be declared guilty of molestation, and after 14 years, he was convicted under Section 352 of the IPC. However, the legal turmoil continued for more than two decades.

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Ruchika Girhotra’s First Clash with SPS Rathore

Ruchika Girhotra was a 14-year-old girl and a tennis player. Girhotra and her friend Aradhana Prakash were trainees at the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association (HLTA), whose founding president was SPS Rathore himself. Everything changed on 12 August 1990, when Rathore called Ruchika to his office on the pretext of giving her special tennis coaching.

Ruchika Girhotra went to meet him along with her friend Aradhana Prakash, who was asked to bring the tennis coach to his room. After Aradhana left the room, SPS Rathore molested Ruchika, and Aradhana became the sole witness to the crime. An initial inquiry report submitted to Home Secretary J.K. Duggal found Rathore guilty by September 1990.

The Repercussions Faced by the Girhotra Family

After SPS Rathore was indicted, Ruchika Girhotra was expelled from her school within days on the grounds of non-payment of fees. She studied at Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Chandigarh, and was rusticated after studying there since Class I. Several narratives emerged regarding her expulsion, including claims that the school wanted to avoid defaming Rathore’s daughter, who was also Ruchika’s classmate.

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Rathore also targeted her family, including her father, S.C. Girhotra, who worked at a bank, and her 10-year-old brother, Ashu. Several false cases were filed against them on charges of theft, civil defamation, and murder. Not only the Girhotra family, but also the sole witness to Rathore’s misconduct, Aradhana Prakash — Ruchika’s friend also faced Rathore’s wrath.

Several cases were filed against Aradhana Prakash and her family. Her father, Anand Prakash, faced immense workplace politics, and several complaints were filed against him, leading to his demotion at work. Prakash worked for the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board.

Three years after the incident, the Girhotra family was still enduring continuous harassment by SPS Rathore. On 23 September 1993, her brother Ashu was taken by a group of policemen from a market near his home and was tortured by them. He was allegedly brought to the CIA Staff Office in Mansa Devi, where his hands were tied, and he was even beaten by Rathore himself. He was arrested again by the police in November and reportedly remained in police custody until his sister’s death.

Ruchika Girhotra died by suicide on 28 December 1993 after consuming poison. The case against SPS Rathore was closed just one week after her death, and Rathore was later promoted to Additional DGP the following year. Ashu was never proven guilty of any of the charges filed against him.

In his affidavit, Ashu stated that he was terrorised by the police and was “not given food or water for days at a stretch and was beaten mercilessly. I was paraded in handcuffs in front of my house while police abused my sister.” He further added that he was kept in police custody from 23 October 1993 to 29 December 1993, a day after his sister’s death.

It was Anand Prakash, the father of Aradhana Prakash, who approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1997. The following year, on 21 August 1998, the court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

The legal chapter of the Ruchika Girhotra case continued for years following the involvement of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). From filing the chargesheet against SPS Rathore in 2000 to the hearings continuing until 2006, the CBI reportedly took more than five years to record statements from 16 prosecution witnesses.

After years of delays caused by Rathore’s power and influence, the case was eventually transferred to the CBI court in Chandigarh in 2009. In December 2009, SPS Rathore was sentenced to six months in jail and fined Rs 1,000. Even this sentence was postponed until January 2010.

His sentence was extended to 18 months in 2010. In 2016, SPS Rathore, who had been found guilty of molesting Ruchika Girhotra, became a free man and was released citing his old age as the reason.

The case of Ruchika Girhotra eventually became an example highlighting the failures within the Indian judicial system and law enforcement. Her father shared the family’s grievances, saying there was no one they could turn to for help. “He was the DGP. Whom could we complain to? The chief minister was supporting him. Where were we to go?” said Ruchika’s father.

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