Former police chief faces new charges in child molestation case

Dec 30, 2009, 7:52 GMT

New Delhi - Authorities in the northern state of Haryana filed new charges against a former state police chief convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl, news reports said Wednesday.

The action followed a federal government order to re-open the investigation into the case, which provoked nationwide outrage at the six-month jail sentence for ex-officer SPS Rathore.

The 'first information reports' were filed against Rathore Tuesday night for allegedly lodging false cases against the girl's brother, trying to murder him and fabricating the girl's autopsy report, the Hindustan Times daily reported.

In 1990, Ruchika Girhotra complained that she was assaulted by Rathore. She committed suicide by consuming poison three years later after she and her family faced continuous harassment by Rathore.

But the police officer kept hounding her family, and filed false criminal charges against her brother, investigators said.

Authorities were also preparing to charge the 67-year-old Rathore with abetting Girhotra's suicide.

The deceased girl's father, who was scheduled to meet federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram on Wednesday, said Rathore should be given the death penalty.

'He has killed my daughter by misusing his official position. He has ruined my son and my family. We are virtually homeless today. We want the death penalty for him,' Subhash Chander Girhotra told reporters.

The federal Home and Law Ministries were also considering appealing against the trial court's verdict, to seek a stronger sentence for Rathore.