1. Shielding the former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore by Om Parkash Chautala in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. 2. Filing of two chargesheets by the CBI in a Delhi court last week in a disproportionate assets case against Ajay and Abhey. 3. Punjab and Haryana High Court's virtual strictures against Chautala nearly two month ago in a case which has now acquired public gaze after he filed an appeal for expunction of adverse remarks.

The list of those shielding Rathore also includes the former Chief Minister and now Haryana Janhit Congress patron Bhajan Lal and some bureaucrats and police officers who acted as “your most obedient servants” during the Bhajan Lal and Chautala's regimes.

Two questions arise from these controversies. Should the Ruchika's molestation case be reopened not only for seeking higher punishment for Rathore for molesting her but also for abetment of suicide? Will these cases have political ramifications?

Benevolent stars had started eyeing Om Parkash Chautala when he got the status of Opposition Leader after his party INLD won 31 seats in the Assembly elections two months ago. But now his malevolent stars appear to be in the ascendant as highlighted particularly by the Ruchika molestation case. Take the Ruchika case.

Ruchika, then 14 and a budding lawn tennis player committed suicide on December 28, 1993 three years after she was molested on August 12,1990 by Rathore then Inspector General of Haryana Police and President of Haryana Lawn Tennis Association by calling her to his office. It was not the humiliation alone suffered by her at the hands of Rathore that drove her to commit suicide. What also made her take her life was the harassment of her family by the police after she complained against Rathore. Six FIRs were registered between September 6, 1992 and August 20, 1993 against her brother Ashu for auto theft. He was acquitted by the court in all the six cases. Her family was also harassed forcing it to go into hiding after selling their Panchkula house.

It was after 19 years that Ruchika's tormenter was convicted to merely six months jail and that too after her friend Aradhana's parent Anand Parkash filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana Court asking for a CBI probe. On November 17, 2002, the CBI filed a chargesheet accusing Rathore of molesting Ruchika.

Her father Subhash Chander Girohotra has now blamed Chautala for shielding Rathore. This has started a blame game between Chautala and Bhajan Lal charging each other with shielding Rathore.

The fact, however, is that both shielded Rathore. He was promoted as Additional DGP on November. 4, 1994 when Bhajan Lal was CM. He was suspended on Jan.5,1998 in another case when Bansi Lal was in power. But on August 21,1998, the High Court ordered a CBI probe and he was reinstated as ADGP on March 3,1999. After Om Parkash Chautala came to power on July 23,1999 Rathore was appointed DGP on October 10, 1999. He retired in 2002. Now Chautala says that Rathore was suspended by him after chargesheet in the Ruchika molestation case was filed against him. The fact, however, is that he was merely sent on long leave and that too after an outcry over his continuance as DGP even after the filing of chargesheet in November 2000. During the Chautala regime, Rathore's name was recommended for President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service. The recommendation was rejected only when IB told Home Ministry that Rathore was an accused.

The government must reopen the Ruchika molestation case. It should also take steps for treating circumstances as abetment of a crime. Besides, the Girhotra family must be paid compensation for their sufferings.

Take the second case. In the chargesheets filed after three years probe by the CBI against Ajay and Abhey - the agency is also waiting a nod from the Haryana Assembly Speaker to charge Om Parkash Chautala in the case - it has been alleged that the Chautala family has amassed assets of over Rs.1400 crore. Chautalas cannot blame Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for resorting to political vendetta, like Chautala, against his opponents as evidenced by Hooda's five-year record of governance. Even in this disproportionate assets case, he preferred to refer it to the CBI and not get it investigated by the State Vigilance Department. The judiciary will now decide the Chautalas fate in the case.

The third case of passing strictures by the High Court nearly two months ago against Om Parkash Chautala which has now gained relevance after Chautala filed an appeal for expunction of adverse remarks pertains to illegal suspension of an assistant registrar. Justice Ranjit Singh ruled: ”Arrogance of power by the Chief Minister seems to be at play in this case. The visit of the then Chief Minister to Yamunanagar on February 4, 2001 with slogan “sarkar aap ke dwar” came with a bitter pill for the petitioner Kanwar Bhan.

“The Chef Minister made certain allegations against the petitioner and ordered his suspension there and then at press conference….. The deputy commissioner then sent a memo on February 4, 2001 for issuing a formal order placing the petitioner under suspension. The Financial Commissioner-cum-secretary meekly succumbed and obligingly issued the order dated February 6,2001 placing the petitioner under suspension with immediate effect. A senior functionary working as an assistant registrar in the co-operative society was thus shown disdain and humiliated in public without any officer coming to his rescue. They all became instrument in perpetuating this arrogant illegality”. Holding Chautala and other functionaries liable to pay interest on his pension and related benefits delayed by over five years, the Judge also held them liable to pay ten percent interest on the amount.

The three cases will give the ruling Congress leadership a handle to politically push Chautalas on the defensive. The Ruchika case will also cast its shadow over Bhajan Lal's Janhit Congress politics. To what extent these will affect the Chautalas in the January 20 Ellanabad byelection from where Abhey is slated to be the INLD candidate is difficult to predict. But the cases will give an effective handle to the Congress in its future offensives against its political opponents. (IPA Service)