Riot police protect Rathore's house from candlelight marchers

S P S RathoreChandigarh, Dec 24 : Riot police in full battle gear surrounded the house of former Haryana director general of police S. P. S. Rathore as local citizens took out a candlelight procession to protest the light sentence he had been given for molesting a teenager in 1990.

The marchers were heading towards his house in Panchkula, a town in Haryana about 10 km from here, police said.

Rathore had been sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of Rs. 1,000 for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra. He is also alleged to have later hounded her and her family till she commited suicide three years later.

Incensed by the fact that Rathore had been given such a light sentence and that too 19 years later, the marchers were shouting slogans like "justice for Ruchika", eyewitnesses said.(IANS)