Home Ministry slaps notice on molester ex-DGP

NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Saturday slapped show cause notices on former Haryana Director General of Police S P S Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, asking why his police medal should not be taken away and pension reduced for allegedly abusing power.

The notices were served on Rathore, who has been sentenced by a court to six-month imprisonment for molesting teenager Ruchika 19 years ago, home ministry sources said.

The home ministry said Rathore's conduct was unbecoming of a police officer. With the light sentence awarded to him creating uproar, Rathore has been asked why his 1985 Police Medal for Meritorious Services should not be withdrawn and pension benefits not reduced.

Rathore, a 1965-batch Indian Police Service officer who retired in 2002, was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious service on August 15, 1985.

However, he was never considered for the President's Police Medal following an internal report of Intelligence Bureau. Ruchika, 14, a budding tennis player, was molested in 1990 by Rathore, the then inspector general of police.

She committed suicide three years later by consuming poison as the police official continued to harass her family. She was expelled from school and false cases were slapped against her brother, her family has claimed.