In the normal course of matters, an accused is arrested within 24 hours of a bail plea being rejected. Rathore has not been arrested so far.
Why is Rathore not behind bars?
The victim’s lawyer, Pankaj Bhardwaj, reacted to the dismissed bail and said, “Why is Rathore not behind bars? By dismissing the anticipatory bail, the court has made it clear that his custodial interrogation is indispensable to the investigation in the case. The police must act upon this and arrest him immediately.”
However, Superintendant of Haryana Police, Maneesh Chaudhary, said they don’t want to hastily arrest Rathore.
“Our investigation is still under process and we are looking into all aspects of the case before arresting anybody. We cannot do things hastily in this matter and we are busy collecting evidence pertaining to these FIRs,” he said.
“It is not easy to go against a senior person from the force. Meetings are being held at the highest level at the moment and nobody wants to take the first step, especially after the revelation that the present Haryana police chief, Ranjiv Dalal, was the Ambala range deputy inspector-general in 1990 when Ruchika was molested,” said a senior officer on conditions of anonymity.
Additional district and sessions judge Sanjeev Jindal rejected the bail of Sewa Singh, another accused police officer in Ruchika case, as well.
Ajay Jain, advocate for Sewa Singh, said that he was ready to move to the High Court against the said order.
Rathore charged with forgery and murder
Based on the complaints of Ruchika's father Subhash Girhotra and brother Ashu, Rathore was charged with attempts of murder, illegal confinement and forgery.
Mr. Rathore, who is convicted of molesting 14-year-old Ruchika, was given a six-month sentence on Dec. 22 after he changed Ruchika’s post mortem report. He attributed her death to excessive consumption of slimming medicines.
