A controversial case shakes India's faith in the rule of law.
NEW DELHI, India — Nearly 20 years after he was accused of using his position of power to molest a teenage girl, and 16 years after his victim's suicide, a high-ranking Indian police official was last month finally brought to justice.
Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore, a state police inspector general, was convicted of molesting Ruchika Girhotra, a rising tennis star, in 1990. On Dec. 21, the court handed down a sentence of just six months jail time and a $25 fine.
What many in India feel is a miscarriage of justice has prompted a re-evaluation of the widely held belief that India, while it lags behind China by many other parameters, remains morally superior to its economic rival not only because it is a functioning democracy but also because it sees itself as a society governed by the rule of law.
The rape trial follows close on the heels of a similar breakdown of the legal system involving the murder of fashion model Jessica Lal.
Her killer, the son of a prominent politician, was acquitted in 2006, only to be retried and sentenced to life imprisonment after intense public pressure. The Ruchika case has been splashed across the front pages here since the first verdict was delivered on Dec. 21.
“It shows deep infirmities in our system, which is supposed to bring justice to victims,” said member of parliament Brinda Karat, who is vice president of the All India Democratic Women's Association. “It highlights a systemic failure.”
Under intense public pressure, this week the state of Haryana, where the original incident occurred, registered fresh charges against Rathore that allege he abused his power to scuttle the original investigation, delay his prosecution and harass the victim's family, eventually driving Ruchika herself to commit suicide. But as television channels and newspapers continue to throw light onto more and more incidents in which police, politicians and other powerful people allegedly used money and influence to subvert justice, the citizenry's faith in the country's brilliantly penned, but poorly enforced, laws is at an all-time low.
Molested by Rathore, who was both the inspector general of the Haryana state police and the head of the state tennis association at the time, 14-year-old tennis player Ruchika Girhotra sought to punish him by lodging an official complaint.
Investigations stagnated for years after the complaint was filed, during which time Girhotra's family allegedly suffered constant police harassment, according to new charges leveled by the family on Jan. 5. Rathore allegedly hired goons to vandalize the Girhotras' home, pressured Ruchika's school to have her expelled, and got his police cronies to arrest her brother for car theft, according to Pankaj Bhardwaj, the Girhotras' lawyer. After just three years of this treatment, Ruchika killed herself. She was 17 years old.
“[Rathore] was the person who was driving everybody,” Bhardwaj told GlobalPost. “He was the mastermind behind the total conspiracy.”
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/100104/india-rule-of-law
