Rathore, who in the front row, left soon after the flag-hoisting ceremony.
Former Haryana director general of police (DGP) SPS Rathore, a convicted in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, was seen present on the stage with other officials at the district-level Republic Day function at the Sector-5 Parade Ground in Panchkula.
Rathore, who in the front row, left soon after the flag-hoisting ceremony, reported Hindustan Times.
“He (Rathore) must have been invited to the function. It is shameless on the part of the local administration. By endorsing such criminals, who have been convicted by the Supreme Court, the administration is directly encouraging such crimes,” Ruchika’s friend Aradhana Gupta told HT, adding that his presence at the event was a “disgrace” to the Tricolour.
Aradhana is the sole eye witness to Ruchika Girhotra’s molestation.
Rathore, who retired in 2002, was an IGP when he molested Ruchika on August 12, 1990, three years after which she committed suicide.
On December 22, 2009, after 19 years, 40 adjournments, and more than 400 hearings, the court finally pronounced Rathore guilty under Section 354 IPC (molestation) and sentenced him to six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. The CBI had opposed Rathore's plea and had sought an enhancement of his sentence from six months to the maximum of two years after his conviction. Rejecting his appeal against his conviction by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court, Chandigarh District Court on May 25 sentenced the former police official to one and a half years of rigorous imprisonment, enhancing his earlier six-month sentence and immediately taken into custody and taken to the Burail prison.
On November 11, 2010, the Supreme Court granted bail to Rathore on the condition that he remain in Chandigarh. In 2016, the SC upheld Rathore's conviction in molestation case but restricted the punishment to six months jail already served by him considering his age.
Anand Parkash, father of Ruchika, died recently after struggling for justice for for over two decades.
His wife Madhu said she was deeply saddened by the “insensitive” behaviour of the local administrators. “It is a disgrace to our Constitution and an insult to the verdict of the Supreme Court, which held him guilty,” she said.
(With agency inputs)