Ruchika Girhotra molestation: School gives clean chit to S P S Rathore

It has been submitted by the school that all provisions were followed. It further stated that the inquiry report prepared by the Chandigarh sub-divisional magistrate was incomplete and that the SDM did not scrutinise all the relevant documents.

The affidavit was filed in response to a PIL demanding action against the school for allegedly expelling Ruchika owing to pressure from Rathore,who was convicted in 2010 on charges of molesting 13-year-old Ruchika in Panchkula in 1990.

In its report,the Chandigarh SDM had submitted that Ruchika was thrown out in a “selective,arbitrary,biased and unwarranted manner” by Sacred Heart School” under outside compelling circumstances”,the magisterial Inquiry into the expulsion has found. This would “certainly have contributed to mortifying the self-esteem,self-confidence,integrity and reputation of a young minor girl,thereby traumatising and indelibly scarring her impressionable mind,” read the report that was released by UT.

The 45-page report had recommended that school Principal Sister S Sebastina,who was also principal when Ruchika was expelled,should be stripped of the State Award conferred on her in 2005.

Ruchika committed suicide in 1993,allegedly because Rathore persecuted her family after she filed a police complaint against him.