Major Project

Media Activism: Case Study
Introduction
Media activism refers to a situation where media specifically focuses on a

particular issue and starts spreading awareness on it. Media activism aims to
bring reforms in the society or the prevalent situation. There are various
cases where media has taken up an issue and drawn the attention of the
society towards it. Media played a significant role and forced the judiciary
and the law and order agencies to undertake a fair trial and punish the
guilty. There are a number of such cases, for instance, Jessica Lal,
Priyadarshini Matto, Nitish Katara, BMW and recently in Ruchika Girhotra
case. All these were high profile cases where the powerful tried to
manipulate the evidence and influence the witnesses in their favour. The
disclosure of facts to the general public by the media relating to each of
these cases had been the key to the success.
Though media raised some valid issues about the problems in our judicial
system, it has also been criticised for conducting media trials. Many critics
blame the electronic media for sensationalizing the information to allure
more and more viewers. It has been tagged as only a corporate interested in
making money through higher TRPs leading to higher advertisement profits.
This could be true to a large extent. The presentation of each of these
stories has been dramatic.
When a five-year old boy, Prince fell into an open manhole the live coverage
on channels made sure that everyone from the local MP, the Chief Minister,
the district administration and the Army spared no effort to bring out the
boy alive.
Some people also termed it as activism of the elite. Despite all this print
media exercised some caution and did not sensationalise the cases.
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Such cases often trigger a discussion on how the media tramples on

principles of natural justice, holds judgement in an open court, often doesn’t
respect the sanctity of the law of the land and creates a situation when an
accused is already held guilty without the verdict being pronounced.
However, this does not happen in Ruchika’s case as Rathore has been
already held guilty by the court.
When the verdict came in the Ruchika Girhotra vs. S. P. S. Rathore case on
December 21, 2009 and Rathore walked out of the court with a smile on his
face he caught the attention of the media. After that media not only pursued
the developments in the case but also focused on the minimal punishment
and his immediate bail. Media not only covered the latest developments in
the case but also highlighted the loop holes and corruption in the Indian
criminal justice system.
Nineteen years ago, S.P.S. Rathore, a senior police official in Haryana,

molested Ruchika Girhotra after arranging to meet her at the local lawn
tennis club, of which he was president.
An internal police probe in 1990 into the assault recommended a case be

filed but Rathore was promoted and his influence grew further when he was
later named as the top police officer for the entire state.
Ruchika, in the meantime, was expelled from her school. The expulsion, the
family claims, was part of a campaign of intimidation and harassment
designed to force the family to drop their complaint and prevent any
prosecution of the policeman. According to the family, Ruchika’s brother
Ashu was accused of theft and then abused in jail on Rathore’s orders.
Tormented by the stress, Ruchika finally poisoned herself in 1993 at the age
of 17. Her brother was released from jail soon after she died.
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Nineteen years later, now court has held Rathore guilty of molestation and
sentenced him to six months in jail and a 1000 rupee fine.
S.P.S. Rathore’s counsel claimed before the trial court that media played a
negative role in the case and published news items selectively in collusion
with the complainant party. The judge, while convicting and sentencing
Rathore, took note of his grievance that he felt mental stress because of the
media trial. But the judge held that the court had concern only with the facts
and circumstances available on record and not with what any other agency
reported about the accused or the victim. He also made it clear that
Rathore’s grievance could not be a ground for taking a liberal view on the
quantum of sentence.
Indeed, the national media were guilty of ignoring this case and its
ramifications all these years. Obviously, whatever little coverage of the case
was there in the local media had no impact on the judge. Still, the question
raised by Rathore cannot be dismissed easily.
There is genuine concern that any prejudicial publication or broadcast in the

media about a person after his or her arrest may cause substantial prejudice
in the criminal proceedings that must be taken to be imminent, irrespective
of whether the person is released later. However, it is the media’s steadfast
investigation that brought to light several aspects of Rathore’s high-
handedness, which had gone unreported earlier, let alone be investigated by
the police and prosecuted in a court of law.
The question about the extent of media restraint in the case is important
and needs to be answered in the light of the current legal position. In a
situation where fresh FIRs have been filed against him and his arrest is
imminent, it can be asked whether the media can continue to cover the
cases against Rathore with a perceived prejudice against him. Section 3 (2)
of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, read with its explanation, excludes from
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criminal contempt all publications made before the filing of a charge sheet or
challan in court or before the issue of summons or warrant, even if such
publications interfere or tend to interfere with the course of justice. Although
it is pointed out that imminent criminal proceedings following the arrest of a
person should be the starting point of restraint by the media, the law as it
stands today favours taking into account the filing of a charge sheet to
consider when the media ought to restrain itself, in order not to restrict
unduly the freedom of expression during the period from the filing of FIRs
and arrest of a person to the filing of charge sheets.
The Law Commission’s 200th Report (2006) on Trial by Media points out that
in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and New
Zealand, any publication made in the print or broadcast on the electronic
media after a person’s arrest, stating that the person arrested has previous
convictions or that he has confessed to the crime during investigation or that
he is indeed guilty, and the publication of his photograph are treated as
prejudicial and as violative of due process required for a suspect who has to
face a criminal trial.
The Law Commission observed: “If media exercises an unrestricted or rather

unregulated freedom in publishing information about a criminal case and
prejudices the mind of the public and those who are to adjudicate on the
guilt of the accused and if it projects a suspect or an accused as if he has
already been adjudged guilty well before the trial in court, there can be
serious prejudice to the accused. In fact, even if ultimately the person is
acquitted after the due process in courts, such an acquittal may not help the
accused to rebuild his lost image in society.”
The Law Commission’s concerns are understandable, but the process of

India’s criminal justice system is lengthy and its many flaws favour the
accused rather than the victim. Therefore, there is a need to balance the
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rights of the accused to a fair trial with the rights of the media and the
public to expose these flaws.
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Review of Literature
William Hoynes in an essay ‘Media Research and Media Activism’ writes that
since the early 1980s, social movement researchers have paid increasing
attention to the relationship between media and social movements. Todd
Gitlin’s The Whole World Is Watching (1980) focused on the relationship
between the U.S news media and the “new left”, examining the role of news
in the rise and ultimate demise of the student left in the 1960s.
In The Strategy of Social Protest (1990), Gamson argues that mass media
are a key factor in analysing post – World War II social movements, and
researcher interested in how both media and movements “frame” issues
have been particularly attentive to what Gamson and Wolfsfeld (1993) call
the “transactional” relationship between news media and social movements.
In exploring this relationship, social movement theorists have defined media

as potentially valuable resources for movement organisations, looked at the
media as part of political opportunity structures, and identified media as a
terrain of political and cultural contestation. Media, then, are both cultural
forces that shape the field of mobilisation and an arena of political activism
itself. And neither movement activists nor journalists are passive in this
relationship. One of the real contributions of social movement scholarship is
this illumination of the push-pull of media-movement relations, which
highlights both the strategic agency of activists and the journalistic norms
and practices that do so much to shape media coverage of social
movements.
If social movement scholars have shown that media matter to movements,

media researchers have demonstrated that activism is linked to the
organisation of the media industry.
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Various people use the Net to try to effect social, cultural or political change
– from hackers, culture jammers and corporate saboteurs to established
political parties. It’s a huge terrain – there are Net campaigns around the
world and around the corner. The Internet is an increasingly crucial part of
broader media activism.
The Internet is also being incorporated into more routine aspects of daily
life, as virtual and physical activities become increasingly integrated.
In a book Understanding Community Media edited by Kevin Howley the

author writes Community media are but one aspect of a field of democratic
media activism that encompasses a range of actors and activities, including
media reform and public interest advocacy groups, cultural interventions
(popularly known as “culture jamming”), professional and trade
organisations, and media literacy programs, as well as news and media
“watchdog” groups. While it is unclear whether these disparate activities
constitute a coherent social movement, it is plain to see that there is
growing, worldwide discontent with media structures, practices, and
performance. Still, the specific issues and concerns taken up by democratic
media activism can vary dramatically.
For instance, in societies making the transition from authoritarian rule to

liberal democracy across Eastern Europe and the global South, media
democratisation often means removing direct and indirect forms of political
censorship, opening up the media system to private ownership, and
adopting Western models of journalism and entertainment formats. But, as
has been well documented, democratic media activism in established
democracies is also on the rise. In the United States, Canada, and the
United Kingdom, for example, citizens’ movements directed against
commercialisation, repeated press failures, and government and corporate
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misinformation campaigns as well as media consolidation are increasingly

commonplace.
In Asian Americans and the Media by Kent A. Ono and Vincent N. Pham
mention a case of Asian American activism. The protest of the Broadway
premiere of Miss Saigon in 1991 continues to be regarded as a landmark
instance of Asian American activism against derogatory representations.
Cameron Mackintosh, the show’s producer, asked Jonathan pryce, a
Caucasian British actor, to reprise his role as the Vietnamese pimp in the
New York production. However, Asian American activists protested the
yellowface portrayal by Pryce, in addition to other Western
misrepresentation of Asians, such as the stereotype that Asians are
submissive “Orientals”, that men are sexually impotent, and other Orientalist
depictions of Asians appearing in the production.
The protest of Miss Saigon was both activism of traditional kind and media
activism. It dealt centrally with the politics of representation, of who plays
what, and who has the right to play what, but it also had to do with the
medium of theatre as a forum for the communication of ideas and its
pedagogical and informational role in educating theatre-goers about Asian
Americans. If the various Miss Saigon protests were taken purely as an
instance of Asian American activism, it would be fair to say that they failed,
as they did not stop the show and did not, in the end, alter the employment
of actors. Yoshikawa concludes, however, that the protesters never thought
they would be able close down the show (1994). Thus, while ending the
production would have been ideal, the goal to challenge stereotypes and
offensive casting, to shift the meanings of representations in the production,
to provide an Asian American perspective on the show, to call for a more
complex and nuanced version of Asian Americans, and to do all of this
publicity, was itself a significant achievement.
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Media activism is not a new concept in India. Even in pre-Independence

India, there have been several attempts at using the media for bringing
institutional reforms and as a channel for popular protest. A number of anti-
colonial institutions for instance, Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA)
used it to mobilize public opinion against British rule. During the 1940s and
1950s, political theatre was used by the anti-Brahmin movement in South
India. This was followed by a massive upsurge in the use of popular theatre
for democratic reform in the 1970s. Now it is widely used throughout India
by women’s groups, the environmental movement, Dalit organisations
(NGOs) involved in social change. Popular theatre is an inexpensive medium,
and provided that it is adapted to local conditions, expressions, and
rhetorical styles, it can be a potent tool for awareness raising and
community organising. In the state of Tamil Nadu in South India, street
theatre (Terrakoothu) is routinely used by NGOs with varying degrees of
success in issues related to health, family planning, AIDS awareness, and
interfaith and Dalit solidarity or rights issues.
In 2006 justice for Jessica was not just a slogan, but it became an enigmatic
campaign undertaken by national media. Ranjith Thankappan writes, in an
article ‘Media justice: activism or elitism?’, that civil society was exposed to
a plethora of activism harnessed by media and judiciary that tend to project
an erroneous belief that justice could be attained only through such hype.
The essay focuses on the myth of media activism in the context of India’s
failed civil society and its monolithic, homogenous practices of constructing
socio-cultural myths. A comparative analysis of media/judicial activisms with
respect to upper caste/class India and the lack of it with respect to
Dalit/Subaltern India would lead us to understand how problematic the
secular, modern and civil libertarian spaces are in the Indian context.
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Media justice is a hypothetical term used to denote the contrived media

space allotted for social groups to engage in public discourse. It is
hypothetical in the sense that the term exists as a theoretical trope,
tangibility of which is possible relatively at theoretical level. It is an accrued
dominant narrative and its practice evolve as corollary to the ideological
positioning of media as an agency of the culturally dominant.
Media, by and large encompasses the idea of an ideal public sphere,

especially in highly political societies. However, a close examination of the
same would bring forth the problematic terrain of these spheres. Rather than
a public sphere it limits to a caste/community sphere where various
caste/community voices are raised for fair share of power. Thus, public
sphere (therefore media also) could be problematic if caste is introduced as
an analytical category in the Indian context.
The secular and rational face of national media was exposed in the way the
marginalized sections of the society and their issues were represented. The
media representations of Dalits/Adivasis/OBCs/Muslims in national media
were in consonance with the majoritarian Hindu/Brahminical imaginations.
The narratives have shown a hegemonic construction of these categories
which in the larger historical context tend to demoralize and challenge the
very existence of these groups in the national culture.
Jessica and Priyadarshini may become a hot debate for this civil society, but
it is a difficult preposition for those majorities falling on the other side of the
caste/class order.
The Kherlanji Dalit Massacre was a non-issue for the national media until
some Marathi local newspapers picked it up and sensationalized. No candles
burnt in front of India Gate, New Delhi for the unfortunate victims of
Kherlanji. No celebrity vouched support for the victims. No
newspaper/television channel campaigned for them. No columnist expressed
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solidarity with the victims as seen in the case of anti-reservation/pro-

Jessica-Priyadarshini media campaigns. These pre-planned campaigns were
nothing less than political statements of the elite upper caste minority
dominating the cultural ethos of a civilization.
This was also evident in the infamous Nithari Serial Killings of children and
teenage girls at the city fringe of NOIDA in India. The elitist middle class
who thronged with candles for Jessica and Priyadarshini Matto did not come
out of their houses in support of the parents and relatives whose sons and
daughters were brutally murdered in a real life psycho thriller. The accused
were a rich industrialist and his faithful servant. Right from the beginning
the Police, vested with the power of enforcing law and order in the country,
favoured the accused and victimized those who lost their dear and near.
Newspapers have reported that the accused were once arrested against a
complaint, but later released after receiving bribe.
In these cases, civil society and media showed less interest and its activism
was non-existent. It never initiated a verbal/visual campaign for justice as it
did in the case for Jessica, Priyadarshini Matto and against Reservation
policy.
In an article ‘What position should the media take when human rights and
security interests collide?’ Sevanti Ninan wrote when internal security and
human rights collide, as they increasingly will in a country with serious Naxal
and militancy problems, it creates a challenge for the media. Where should it
position itself? With how much conviction and persistence will it press for
adherence to legal norms when the victims of police high-handedness are
depicted as working against the State? And even if it does make up its mind,
how much activism can it sustain when the victim is not conveniently in
Delhi, or nearby, as has been the case with all recent successful examples of
media activism? And an older man engaged in grassroots activism rather
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than an attractive, non-political, urban young man or woman who was killed,
as in the case of Jessica Lal, Nitish Kataria and Priyadarshini Mattoo?
Three people in different parts of the country were languishing in jail.

Binakayak Sen, the 1970s Vellore alumnus who had been working in the
Chattisgarh area long before that State was formed, Govindan Kutty, editor
of a Maoist publication called People's March, who was arrested on
December 19, 2007 from a place near Kochi and lodged in a sub-jail in
Alwaye, and Prashant Rahi who was a journalist for 17 years in the
Uttarakhand region before being arrested in December 2007 from Dehra
Dun (there are conflicting reports about the actual date). Each of them was
accused of Maoist involvement and the variety of Internet and newspaper
reports on them reflect varying degrees of acceptance of this charge.
Invasion of Privacy
The television free for all over Sania Mirza and Shoab Malik's engagement
woes exemplifies what Amartya Sen once described as the media's
propensity for targeted invasion of privacy. They were rowdy at the press
conference, they clambered over the wall of the Mirza family home, they
pursued the family making the allegations for leads, and have been happy
to go to town with anything they got.
It also happened in the case of Arushi Talwar murder case where media took
up the role of policemen and judge. Indira Jaisingh in her article ‘Driven by
Sensationalism’ wrote there were channels which went to the extent of
recreating what they imagined to be the case, a sexual encounter between
Arushi and the domestic servant under the blankets. Email exchanged
between Aarushi and her friends which came into the possession of the
Police were released to the press and displayed over and over again to
convey the impression that she was of loose character, forgetting that she
was no more than 13 years of age. There was nothing short of a media trial
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taking place here. And while some may voluntarily submit to media trials,
this was a case where there was an on going police investigation and the
matter was sub judice and should not have been reported in the manner it
was. There is all over an unholy nexus between the police and the press.
Much of what passes off as investigative journalism is nothing but press
hand outs. The police release premature opinions to come out looking good
in investigating crime and the press laps it up as an “exclusive” story. Both
are happy. The law needs to step in here and hold the police responsible for
damaging reputations and prevent them from sharing investigation reports
with the press.
Apart from violating the fundamental rights of citizens, the press also here
violated its own journalistic ethics. The Press Council of India in its norms
forbids the press from publishing private details of individuals unless
relevant to public interest. The norm forbids the press from divulging details
about any person in a manner which raises doubts about the chastity and
privacy of a woman. All these norms were violated in the Aarushi case.
That apart, even a dead person cannot be criminally defamed and Aarushi
was quite clearly defamed by a substantial section of the media.
Yet another law, the Indecent Representation of Women Act, was also
violated. So under-used is this law that the press is probably unaware of its
existence. It is one law which requires the press to report on women in a
responsible manner that does not violate their dignity. This law is all too
often used only to seize pornographic material, though it is meant for all
manner of reporting in news and advertising.
Media activism and Trial
According to Soli Sorabjee there is a basic distinction between media

activism and trial by media. If a prosecution gets bogged down for an
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inordinately long period, the media is certainly entitled, nay obliged to,
probe and expose the causes for the delay. For example, the deliberate
lethargic pace of the prosecution, frequent adjournments occasioned by
absence of the public prosecutors or delaying tactics resorted to by the
accused or frequent transfer of the presiding judicial officer in the midst of
the trial and so on. The media, by publicising these facts, acts as a catalyst
which is conducive to the speedy progress of the trial. Media activism of this
nature is commendable.
However, once the trial has commenced, the media has no right to
pronounce upon the innocence or guilt of the persons involved according to
its perception and knowledge of the law and criminal procedure.
Determination of the guilt or innocence of a person under our constitutional
scheme is the function of the courts, which should not be usurped by the
media. Besides, incalculable harm can be done to a person’s reputation by
prematurely judging him or her guilty. In this context (Jessica Lal murder
case), the observations of a Division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising
Justices P. Sathasivam and Swatanter Kumar in its recent judgment are
instructive. “Presumption of innocence of an accused is a legal presumption
and should not be destroyed at the very threshold through the process of
media trial and that too when the investigation is pending. In that event, it
will be opposed to the very basic rule of law and would impinge upon the
protection granted to an accused under Article 21”. The Bench cautioned
that, “Every effort should be made by the print and electronic media to
ensure that the distinction between trial by media and informative media is
always maintained”. Media will render great service if it observes the
lakshman rekha charted by the Supreme Court.
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Objectives
The objective of this research is to figure out the media activism in Ruchika
Girhotra molestation case. The unrelenting publicity and pressure from the
media has forced prosecutors to file more charges against Ruchika’s
molester–charges her family has been requesting for years.
There has been substantial coverage of the Rathore case in the national
media, both electronic and print, since December 21, when the trial court
delivered its judgment. Media reports focused not only on the judgement of
the court which held S. P. S. Rathore guilty of Ruchika’s molestation but also
on the amount of punishment and his immediate bail. The objective here is
to find out the following:
1. What aspects of the case were covered in the reports?

2. What were the other issues raised in the reports related to the case?
3. What were the immediate consequences of media activism in this
case?
4. Did any reforms take place after media gave so much attention to it?
5. What role media played when the hearings of the case were taking
place, when the judgement was passed and thereafter?
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Research Methodology
For conducting content analysis four national daily newspapers, namely, The
Indian Express, The Hindu, Hindustan Times and The Times of India were
selected. Articles related to the coverage of Ruchika Girhotra molestation
case were collected from December22, 2009 to January 22, 2010. On the
basis of newspaper reports qualitative content analysis was done. Through
this research an attempt has been made to find out the aspects covered by
the news reports and their frequency of appearing in the newspapers. The
research also tried to trace the immediate consequences of these reports on
the administrative and legal machinery.
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Content Analysis
The following data was collected on the basis of the reports published in The
Indian Express, The Hindu, The Times of India and Hindustan Times from
December 22, 2009 to January 22, 2010.
Date IE The TOI HT

Contents Hindu
1. Description of the case & verdict 22 Dec
26 Dec
27 Dec

29 Dec
2. Rathore’s immediate bail 22 Dec
3. Aradhana’s statement in court 22 Dec

29 Dec
4. Handing over of the investigation to CBI 22Dec
5. Moving out of Ruchika’s family from Chandigarh 22 Dec

26 Dec

28 Dec
6. Harassment of Ruchika & the family 22 Dec
23 Dec
24 Dec

25 Dec
26 Dec

27 Dec

28 Dec

30 Dec

31 Dec
7. Case was taken up by various courts in 22 Dec
different cities 28 Dec
8. Reaction on Rathore’s punishment 22 Dec
9. Family tried to avoid public gaze 22 Dec
10. Girhotra’s reaction to the verdict, accused 22 Dec

politicians of shielding Rathore 24 Dec

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25 Dec
26 Dec
11. Suspension of Ruchika from the Haryana Lawn 22 Dec
Tennis Association(headed by Rathore) 24 Dec
25 Dec
12. Expulsion from the school without citing any 22 Dec

reason or for not submitting the fees 23 Dec

24 Dec

25 Dec
26 Dec

28 Dec
29 Dec

30 Dec

31 Dec
13. Arrest of her brother, Ashu, thrashed by police, 22 Dec
his illegal detention for more than 2 months, 24 Dec
forced to sign blank papers, his acquittal by 25 Dec
trail courts 26 Dec

27 Dec

28 Dec

29 Dec

30 Dec

31 Dec
3 Jan

14. Lacuna in 150 yr old Indian Penal Code 23 Dec
24 Dec
25 Dec
26 Dec
27 Dec
28 Dec

31 Dec
15. Law Commission in its 172nd report in 2000 23 Dec
recommended a provision recognizing & 24 Dec
penalizing child sexual abuse (not redressed 26 Dec

the issue) 28 Dec
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16. No counselling facility at the school that could 23 Dec

prevent her from committing suicide
17. Defense plea: Rathore was a meritorious 23 Dec
officer, got many awards
18. Issue reverberated in ( in zero hour) Rajya 23 Dec
Sabha with CPM’s Brinda Karat demanding a
reform in the legal system to ensure timely
justice in such cases in future
19. Om P. Chautala govt Promoted Rathore to the 23 Dec
post of DGP 24 Dec
27 Dec
20. Why Rathore wasn’t charged with abetment of 23Dec

Ruchika’s suicide by the trail court, section 28 Dec
306( maximum 10 yrs punishment)
21. Rathore charged with Section 354 with 23 Dec
outraging Ruchika’s modesty 25 Dec
30 Dec

1 Jan
10
22. The Punjab & Haryana high court in 2002 23 Dec
upheld Rathore’s revision petition challenging 25 Dec

the charge of abetment of suicide. 27 Dec
23. Former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala said 23 Dec
punishment wasn’t too harsh
24. Chautala denied reports that Rathore was 23 Dec
promoted to DGP during his tenure as CM, 26 Dec
claimed that the cop was promoted during
Congress CM Bhajan Lal’s tenure & removed
from his post in 2000 when he (chautala) was
CM
25. NHRC’s displeasure over Rathore’s continuance 23 Dec
as DGP after CBI charged him in the case
26. Reaction of the National Commission for 23 Dec
Women, NCW decided to form a committee to 24 Dec
examine the Ruchika case, likely to file suit
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seeking civil damages for the family

27. Anand Prakash plans to fight for Rathore’s 23 Dec
conviction for abetment to suicide 25 Dec
28. Legal experts blamed police for lapses 23 Dec

28 Dec
30 Dec
29. Delayed justice 23 Dec

24 Dec
25 Dec

26 Dec

28 Dec
30. Haryana CM asked DGP R.R. Singh to inquire 23 Dec
into the matter, submission of the report home 24 Dec
minister kept the file with him for more than 6 25 Dec

months, Chautala appointed R.K Hooda as DGP 27 Dec
who recommended a departmental enquiry
against Rathore, immense pressure from
political circles
31. Anand Prakash was given premature retirement 23 Dec
after being demoted to the post of
superintending engineer from chief engineer,
also filed a case against his pre-mature
retirement
32. Punjab & Haryana High Court judge’s opinion: 24 Dec
justice not done, can’t do much now, felt that
Rathore should have been charged for
abetment to suicide,
33. Case of police high headedness & political 24 Dec
protectionism 26 Dec
27 Dec

28 Dec
30 Dec
34. Six months imprisonment not enough: Experts 24 Dec

25 Dec
26 Dec
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28 Dec
1 Jan
10
35. Threats & pressure on DGP R R Singh, dharna 24 Dec
outside his office & home 25 Dec
36. Comparison of Rathore’s case with DGP K P S 24 Dec

Gill, both accused of molesting women, let off
with light punishments
37. Delay in lodging complaint 24 Dec
25 Dec
26 Dec
29 Dec
30 Dec
38. Rathore faces an appeal in the SC accusing him 24 Dec

of employing his children’s music teacher &
horse riding instructors as storekeepers in the
Home Guards & Civil Defence department in
1995
39. Contradictions in Rathore’s affidavits & 24 Dec
statements on various occasions helped the
prosecution prove his guilt
40. Centre looks at way to strip Rathore of his 25 Dec
police medal & decided to ask the CBI to start 26 Dec
groundwork for an appeal for an enhanced 28 Dec
sentence, also decided to serve a show-cause

notice to the disgraced officer asking why he
should get full pension after being convicted by
the CBI court
41. Family will move HC to re-open the case, 25 Dec
demanding addition charge of abetment to 26 Dec
suicide( Section 306, the maximum punishment 27 Dec

is 10yrs) 28 Dec
42. Political blame game 25 Dec
26 Dec

27 Dec
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43. Budding tennis player, after her molestation 25 Dec

she remained confined to her house & 29 Dec
depressed 30 Dec
44. Former Haryana home secretary J K Duggal 25 Dec

said that politicians had not allowed registration
of a case against convicted cop in 1990
45. Ruchika was bright & bubbly student; after the 25 Dec
incident she lived in recluse & gradually slipped
into depression
46. Birbal Das Dhalia, who as Home secretary of 26 Dec
Haryana during the rule of the Chautala govt.
in 1999 recommended the name of Rathore for
a President’s Police Medal for Distinguished
Service, defended the decision, saying “there
was no charge-sheet” against him; Dahalia also
served as Principal Secretary to the CM, back
with Chautala as a senior member of the INLD
& its Parliamentary Affairs Committee
47. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the 26 Dec
Ruchika matter needed to be “revisited”, move 31 Dec
to strip Rathore of the Police Medal

48. Ruchika’s family has decided to claim 26 Dec
compensation not only from Rathore but also 27 Dec
Rs 1 crore the State of Haryana
49. Former PM Atal B Vajpayee was moved to tears 26 Dec
when he heard about the molestation, said
former Union Minister, Shanta Kumar
50. Rathore had gone to the extent of doctoring the 26 Dec
report mentioning the cause of Ruchika’s death, 27 Dec
projected that the cause of her death was 28 Dec
consumption of slimming pills 30 Dec

31 Dec

5 Jan
51. Entire trial was video-recorded & these tapes 26 Dec
are most sought after, district court has 27 Dec
22 | P a g e
recieved a dozen odd RTI, evidence strictly 30 Dec

guarded
52. Initiating the process of taking away the police 27 Dec
medal of former Haryana DGP Rathore, Centre 28 Dec
has decided to place the matter before the

Central Police Awards Committee, also served
show cause notice
53. Rathore could not be tried for abetment to 27 Dec
suicide of Ruchika because CBI had actually 28 Dec

opposed the addition of this charge before a 29 Dec
Chandigarh trial court
54. Aman Gupta, husband of Aradhana; birth of 27 Dec
their daughter changed everything; Aman
jumped headlong into the fight
55. Women defending their husbands; Abha 27 Dec
Rathore, wife of Rathore, fought case for him;
this is one of the 4 recent cases where wives
have stood by their high profile husbands
booked for sex crimes; actor Shiney Ahuja’s
wife cried hoarse over her husband’s
implication; former Punjab legislator Gaganjit
Singh Barnala’s wife Harpreet didn’t leave his
side when he was accused of raping his
domestic help; former Haryana inspector
general of police Ravi Kant Sharma’s better
half, Madhu, braved public ire when her
husband was booked & convicted for the
murder of Shivani Bhatnagar
56. Slow & infirm judicial system; fix the judicial 27 Dec
system, more courts, more judges 28 Dec
30 Dec
57. CBI top officer, former CBI Joint Director R M 28 Dec

Singh, claimed that Rathore had tried to
influence & even made attempt to bribe him, as
a result he was taken off the case
23 | P a g e
58. Centre may soon come up with a policy to 28 Dec

revoke police & gallantry medals awarded to 29 Dec
officers convicted by a court
59. Rathore lawyer claimed the hype created in the 28 Dec
Ruchika case could not be sustained in the 31 Dec
light of the facts

60. Those who shielded Rathore must be punished 28 Dec
29 Dec
30 Dec
61. Ruchika’s school faces probe 29 Dec

30 Dec
62. NHRC would approach Punjab & Haryana HC to 29 Dec

register case against Rathore for implicating
Ruchika’s brother in false cases
63. A local NGO, World Human Rights Protection 29 Dec
Council, has filed a PIL in the Punjab & Haryana
HC demanding trial of Rathore under Section
305 of IPC, in which, if held guilty, an individual
can be awarded death penalty
64. All the false cases against Ashu, brother of 29 Dec
Ruchika, were registered at the behest of the 1 Jan
then Ambala SP K P Singh, who is currently IG 10

(training) with the Haryana Police Academy,
but no action has been initiated against him
65. Haryana govt, CBI can demand re-opening of 29 Dec
case say experts 30 Dec
66. Aradhana opened an e-mail id, inviting people 29 Dec

to join the campaign for justice for Ruchika
67. The Union home ministry circular, likely to be 29 Dec
sent out next week, would ask states to ensure 30 Dec
all complaints received at police stations are
treated as FIRs.
68. There can be no re-investigation into the 29 Dec
Ruchika case, at best SC can direct further
investigation or consider a plea for
24 | P a g e
enhancement of punishment for Rathore, for SC

recently ruled that re-investigation was
forbidden in law
69. Two new FIRs registered against Rathore & 30 Dec
other police officers for allegedly slapping false 31 Dec

cases against Ruchika’s brother, charges 2 Jan
include attempt to murder & doctoring the
post-mortem report
70. Need for police reforms 28 Dec
30 Dec
3 Jan
71. NCW demanded filing of fresh cases in 30 Dec

connection with the molestation case, charges
should include abetment to suicide, attempt to
murder, criminal conspiracy, public servant
disobeying law, framing an incorrect document,
giving false evidence, & criminal intimidation
72. Centre directed the CBI to quickly appeal for 30 Dec
enhancing 6 month jail term for Rathore & find
way of filing fresh case against him for forcing
14yr old Ruchika to commit suicide
73. Villagers from Bhadaur in Raipur Rani block 30 Dec
thronged the residence of the Prakashes to
protest against Rathore who allegedly grabbed
their land
74. Centre said it would introduce a new law to set 30 Dec
up fast track courts for time-bound decisions in
cases of sexual offence
75. Moily said that after the cabinet nod the 30 Dec
ministry intends to introduce the bill in 31 Dec
Parliament, the bill-which is likely to amend the 1 Jan
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973-is understood 10

to be named the Sexual Offences (Special
Courts )Bill
76. CBSE is ready with an advisory warning schools 30 Dec
25 | P a g e
not to take extreme measures against 31 Dec

students, advisory will say that schools must
aim to “improve” students, & punishment that
could impact student’s future should be avoided
77. A similar incident, wife of former police 30 Dec
constable from Dausa district of Rajasthan has 31 Dec
been struggling for justice after she was

allegedly raped by a police DIG, Madhukar
Tandon, 13yrs ago (hunt for Tandon begins
after reports)
78. RR Singh said that if summoned he would not 30 Dec
shy away from deposing in court on Rathore’s
attempt to bribe him
79. Only three states have ever tried to plug the 30 Dec
loopholes in the molestation law while
Parliament has done nothing to fix them, & of
those three states, Andhra Pradesh is the only
one to have actually amended Section 354 IPC,
when it enhanced the maximum sentence for
molestation from two years to seven years &
introduced a minimum term of 5 years, other 2
states are Orissa & Madhya Pradesh
80. Centre plans to build in checks & balances in its 30 Dec
proposal to prod states to ensure the police
registers all complaints as FIRs by proposing
punitive action against cops who fail to register
cases as well as deterrents for false cases
intended to harass innocents. Apart from
amendments to the existing laws, Centre is also
considering proposals like e-registration of FIRs
through public kiosks to encourage
transparency & better access to the police
system.
81. District & sessions court in Panchkula turned 31 Dec
down an interim bail plea by former Haryana 9 Jan
26 | P a g e
DGP Rathore 12 Jan
82. Haryana govt formed a special investigation 31 Dec

(SIT) team to probe the Ruchika case
83. An earlier probe ordered by the Punjab & 31 Dec
Haryana HC into the allegations of Ruchika’s
brother Ashu had been quashed by the SC
84. Notwithstanding the euphoria generated by the 31 Dec
slapping of 2 fresh FIRs against Rathore, legal 6 Jan
experts feel the move may not yield any results
85. On the second last day of 2009, the govt 31 Dec
decided to notify a landmark amendment to the 1 Jan
Criminal Procedure Code, giving victims the
right to appeal against a court order acquitting
an accused, or convicting the accused of a
lesser offence. Under the amended Sec 372
CrPc, the victim will not need the permission of
any law enforcement or prosecuting agency to
appeal a court order. However, the Ministry has
decided not to notify two amendments that the
lawyers had opposed strongly – to CrPc
Sections 41 (A) & 309. The amendment to Sec
41(A) barred police from arresting an accused
for an offence that carries a maximum
punishment of seven years without first issuing
him/her a “notice of appearance”. The
amendment to Sec 309, aimed at speeding up
trials, disallowed the granting of adjournments
on flimsy grounds. An important amendment
that will be notified is Section 357A, making it
mandatory for state governments to draw up a
scheme in coordination with the Centre to
provide funds for compensation to victims or
their dependents. Victims will be entitled to
compensation if the offender is not caught &
tried. Another amendment – to Section 275 –
27 | P a g e
provides for video recording of witness

statements in case of offences carrying a
punishment of over two years
86. Media running a parallel trial, Rathore tell court 31 Dec
87. SIT to summon former DGP for questioning 31 Dec
87. Union Law minister said the Ruchika case has 31 Dec
wounded the national psyche& it should serve
as an example to make the laws tougher so
that no one is allowed to get away with a
heinous crime
89. Ruchika’s family & friends are now seeking the 31 Dec
death penalty for Rathore
90. Ruchika’s family meets Union Home Minister P. 31 Dec
Chidambaram, discussed on the possibility of
reopening the case
91. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram 1 Jan
expressed his unhappiness over the manner in
which charges were framed & the trail was
conducted in the case
92. Aradhana’s story is one of determination & 1 Jan
courage
93. Ruchika case gives police reforms a push 1 Jan
94. If the proposed Judicial Standards & 1 Jan

Accountability Bill, 2009, comes into effect, a
mechanism to monitor laggard judges will be
set rolling
95. Interviews of NCR-based families of other 1 Jan
sexual assault victims reveal that over 85% of
them were regularly threatened when they filed
complaints
96. CBI announced that it would appeal for a stiffer 1 Jan
sentence against Rathore
97. The government will soon make molestation a 1 Jan
non-bailable offence, increasing the maximum
imprisonment for the crime from 2 to 5 years
28 | P a g e
98. Anand Prakash said that Haryana’s special 1 Jan

investigation team (SIT) would serve no
purpose
99. Breaking his silence Ruchika’s brother Ashu 1Jan
demanded that Rathore should be put behind
bars
100. A senior police officer, who was heading the 1 Jan
CBI probe into the Ruchika molestation case,
sought to dismiss allegations that the agency
had botched it up to shield her molester &
fellow police officer Rathore
101. Case re-opened 1 Jan
102. Public & media pressure have forced to relook 1 Jan

at cases where the accused were powerful 5 Jan
enough to subvert the justice. These include

the Jessical Lall, Nitish Katara & Priyadarshini
Mattoo cases
103. Rathore got interim bail till January 7 2 Jan
104. The government has decided to review 2 Jan

outdated laws to plug loopholes in the legal
system
105. School says Ruchika wasn’t expelled, father 2 Jan
says she was, Father Thomas spokesman for
Chandigarh Shimla Docese, which runs the
school said “her name was struck off the
attendance register because of non-payment of
school fee for six months continuously...”
106. Official data shows that crimes against women 2 Jan
are rising faster than any other crime
107. Centre indicated the possibility of CBI taking 2 Jan
over the investigation of the fresh case of 3 Jan
abetment to suicide against Rathore

A district judge has been the victim of the 2 Jan
108. snail-paced judiciary for the last 10 months. In
April last year, CBI & the SC gave a clean chit
29 | P a g e
to Kanpur district judge Subhash Chander in

the Rs 23 crore PF scam. Despite proving his
innocence, the senior DJ continues to be under
suspicion
109. A recent study by the UK government of rape 2 Jan
cases in the country shows that a majority of
convictions in rape cases are from admission of
guilt & not because of successful trial as the
delay in investigation & the social stigma
related with sexual offences often force the
victims to withdraw the case. It’s very crucial to
minimise delays
110. PM Manmohan Singh was appraised of 2 Jan
developments in Ruchika molestation case by
women & child development minister Krishna
Tirath
111. Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he 2 Jan
sympathized with the family of Ruchika & 3 Jan
promised that the special investigation team

would complete the probe at the earliest
112. The name Veena Girhotra surfaced again when 2 Jan
Rathore’s counsel Abha informed the court that
Veena was Ruchika’s stepmother
113. Abha Rathore alleged that Anand Prakash has a 2 Jan
family with “shady character”
114. The Advocate General of the Haryana 2 Jan
Government has held the sentence of 6 month 3 Jan
jail for Rathore in Ruchika molestation case as
“most inadequate” while justifying to go in
appeal against the sentence to get it enhanced,
strongly suggested that the accused could be
made to compensate the victimized family from
his pocket
115. Abha alleged that the complainants had no 2 Jan
proof to back their allegations of “attempt to
30 | P a g e
murder & criminal conspiracy”

116. Hooda indicated that an FIR under abetment to 3 Jan
suicide complaint filed two days back by
Ruchika’s brother may be registered once
investigations are completed
117. Principal of the Sacred Heart Senior Secondary 3 Jan
School arrived for a magisterial probe into
Ruchika’s expulsion from school
118. To save himself from the clutches of law 3 Jan
Rathore is now finding loopholes in various
sections of IPC slapped by Panchkula police
against him in the two fresh FIRs
119. 12 chargesheet were filed against Anand 3 Jan
Prakash, most dropped later, in others
exonerated
120. The probe has unearthed evidence to establish 4 Jan
that the School singled out the molestation
victim when it removed her name from the rolls
121. Continuing with its measures to make the 5 Jan
country’s legal system women-friendly, the
government is set to amend the “gender-
biased” laws (Divorce & property laws)
122. Rathore will lose medal, so will other convicted 5 Jan
officers
123. Three days after Ruchika’s brother filed 5 Jan
complaint with the cops for abetment of suicide
against Rathore, the Haryana government is
yet to register an FIR, despite Union HM P
Chidambaram saying that action would be
taken once the Girhotras file their complaint
124. Rathore accused Bansi Lal of colluding with 5 Jan
Madhu Prakash
125. Taking suo motu cognizance of Ruchika 5 Jan
molestation case, the Punjab & Haryana HC has
said that it was high time the cases involving
31 | P a g e
politicians, bureaucrates, cops & other

influential persons be tried by fast-track courts
for speedy justice
126. Media must not play judge in Rathore case as 5 Jan
charges of abetment to suicide & obstructing 10 Jan
justice are yet to be proved
127. The police registered a fresh FIR against 6 Jan
Rathore for abetting the suicide of Ruchika
128. A show cause notice has been served on 6 Jan
Rathore by the Ministry of Home Affairs for
withholding his pension purse following his
conviction
129. Action against Rathore has revived hopes of a 6 Jan
92 year old woman, whose son & son-in-law
were allegedly set on fire 16 years ago on the
orders of controversial Punjab Police officer S.
S. Saini
130. KPS Gill a convict, strip him of Padma Shri: 6 Jan
Rupan Deol who fought a case of sexual
harassment against him
131. Global Human Rights Council & the VHP have 6 Jan
demanded the Chandigarh administration
withdraw the state medal awarded to Ruchika’s
school principal, Sister Sebastina for her
achievements in the field of academics
132. In a case SC has ruled that the abetment 6 Jan
charges have to be complimentary to the
temperament of the victim which varied from
person to person. Conviction is possible only if
the accused actually made a positive move to
push the victim to take his or her own life
133. SC: A case can be probed at any stage 6 Jan
134. Cops who tortured Ashu also named in fresh 6 Jan

FIR
135. Catholic groups regret Ruchika’s expulsion 6 Jan
32 | P a g e
136. Punjab &Haryana HC refused to entertain 7 Jan

Rathore’s plea demanding immediate hearing of
a petition seeking to quash the new FIR
charging him with abetment to suicide
137. In 2005 Girhotra said Veena was his wife 7 Jan
138. Ruchika school principal delayed probe, says 7 Jan

government
139. School threw out Ruchika under pressure, 8 Jan
report says no other student expelled for not
paying fees
140. Court lashes out at cops for delay in 8 Jan
investigation
141. Girhotra’s character questionable: Abha. In 8 Jan
court Abha said that S Girhotra & Veena –
described as Ruchika’s governess – slept in the
same room
142. Punjab & Haryana HC issued notice to the 8 Jan
Centre, the Haryana government, the CBI &
Rathore on a PIL, seeking a probe into the
expulsion of the girl
143. Local court was aghast at the “baffling & 9 Jan
disgusting” attitude of the state government in
not filing a reply pertaining to the bail plea
144. Another Ruchika surfaces in Gahaziabad. 9 Jan
Suicide by 15yr old after rape ordeal
145. SIT not to arrest Rathore for now 9 Jan
146. Rathore’s offences cast spine-chilling & hair- 9 Jan

raising impact: Additional District & Sessions
judge Sanjive Jindal
147. Haryana police arrested Gajendra Singh on 10 Jan
whose testimony the police had booked
Ruchika’s brother Ashu
148. Rathore defended school, targeted Ruchika’s 10 Jan
father in a reply to a questionnaire sent by
inquiry officer
33 | P a g e
149. Rathore allegedly used Ruchika’s expulsion 10 Jan

from school to weaken the initial inquiry into
the molestation allegations by portraying her as
a “loose character girl”
150. Veena, described as Girhotra’s second wife & a 11 Jan
former governess of the Girhotra family, has 12 Jan
told the SIT that she married Girhotra in Nov

1990, separated 5 years later
151. Classic example of the powerful exploiting legal 11 Jan
loopholes, says CJI
152. Did Rathore meet Girhotra about 3yrs ago in a 11 Jan
temple as last-ditch effort to convince Girhotra
to withdraw the case?
153. CBI takes over probe of three new FIRs 12 Jan
154. Police failed to produce Gajendra Singh in the 12 Jan

court
155. Court refused to grant stay on Rathore’s arrest 12 Jan
156. After probe found her guilty, Sacred Heart 12 Jan

School principal Sister Sebastina returned the
state award
157. Rathore sent a representation to the then 13 Jan
Haryana HM Sampat Singh alleging that
Ruchika was expelled “on moral grounds”
158. Co-accused in the cases in which Ashu is 13 Jan
alleged to have been falsely implicated,
Gajendra Singh said that he knew Ashu “very
well, Ashu denies co-accused’s claims questions
‘selective leaks’
159. Punjab & Haryana HC rejected Rathore’s bail 13 Jan
plea
160. Panchkula district & sessions court remanded to 13 Jan
14day judicial custody Gajender Singh
161. The smile, rather the smirk, that Rathore wore 14 Jan
as he came out of court after being convicted of
molesting Ruchika was inspired by Jawaharlal
34 | P a g e
Nehru, says the disgusted cop

162. Ex-students of Sacred Heart school are 14 Jan
reaching out to each other via mails to meet
the principal & ask her to apologise to Ruchika’s
parents
163. Rathore got bail 14 Jan
164. Rathore is one of the three DGPs in the state 14 Jan

police hall of shame. Top officers have been
jailed for involvement in murder, smuggling,
fake encounters
165. Rathore’s bail extended till Feb 8, CBI fears SIT 14 Jan
hurting case
166. Wipe off his smirk, & that of others, don’t let 17 Jan
Ruchika’s death be in vain 21 Jan
167. Rathore to face CBI questioning 19 Jan
168. Challenging his 2 anticipatory bail applications, 19 Jan

CBI submitted in the Punjab & Haryana HC that
“Rathore has filed the petitions with the sole
objective of frustating the investigations”
169. Crimes against children 21 Jan
170. Ruchika’s father didn’t marry Veena, two 22 Jan

priests of Surajpur temple told CBI
35 | P a g e
Analysis
For nearly two decades the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case was out of
public memory. On December 21, 2009 the Chief Judicial Magistrate of
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court sentenced the former Director
General of Police, Haryana, Shambu Pratap Singh Rathore to six month’s
rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1000 for molesting a 14 year old girl
in 1990. The charge under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (assault on
a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) was established.
“The guilt of the convict has already been proved up to hilt,” noted Chief
Judicial Magistrate Jasbir Singh Sidhu in his 97-page order, adding that the
allegations were of moral turpitude and were of a serious nature, particularly
in the circumstances when the victim was a minor. Dismissing the
arguments of the defence counsel highlighting Rathore’s meritorious record,
the judge noted that a meritorious service record and high moral character
were two different things and that it could not be presumed merely on the
grounds of meritorious service that a person would not commit an act of
molestation.
The victim was not yet 15 and was a student of class X in a public school
when her life fell apart on August 12, 1990. Rathore, then a Deputy
Inspector General of Police serving with the Bhakra Beas Management
Board, was also the president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association
(HALTA) at Panchkula, where the teenager and her friends had just started
playing tennis. The victim’s father had plans of sending his daughter, who
had lost her mother several years earlier, to Canada for a bright future.
Rathore convinced him that his daughter was a promising tennis player and
that he would give her extra coaching. Rathore molested her in the office of
the HALTA. This was accidentally witnessed by her friend Aradhana, and the
very first inquiry report submitted by the then Director General of Police, R.
36 | P a g e
R. Singh, confirmed it. Instead of taking action, the State government led by
Hukum Singh ordered departmental proceedings against Rathore. No first
information report (FIR) was registered. Three years after the incident, the
girl committed suicide by consuming poison.
The victim’s family was aided in their fight by Aradhana, her father, Anand
Prakash, a government employee, and mother, Madhu Prakash. In 1997,
Madhu Prakash filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court
and the court on August 21, 1998 ordered the registration of an FIR and
handed over the investigation to the CBI. Rathore appealed against it in the
Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s order. Finally, an FIR was
registered on December 29, 1999, six years after the teenager committed
suicide. Reports also concentrated on Ruchika’s father Subhash Chander
Girhotra, how they were harassed at the hands of Rathore and how their
family tried to avoid public gaze after the molestation. And even after the
judgment, the family tried to avoid media gaze.
The Girhotra family being continuously harassed sold their home in Haryana
and moved to Shimla. According to Madhu Prakash, her family too was
harassed. Many cases were slapped on Anand Prakash and he faced threats.
He was forced to seek retirement.
The case highlighted the need for fast-track courts to deal with crimes
against women and children. Prompt registering of an FIR, a speedy trial and
swift conviction might have prevented the many horrors that the family had
to face.
The newspaper reports and articles pointed out that there are no laws which
protect minors against many forms of sexual violence. There is utter apathy
when it comes to norms of how child witnesses in sexual harassment and
rape cases should be examined. The child witness is always a suspected of
being tutored by a parent. She is subjected to the same kind of questions
37 | P a g e
you would ask an adult woman in court. Lengthy cross-examinations of

children are routine with no provisions for even providing water to the
witness or a chair to sit on.
Although we have a debate on sexual harassment at the workplace it is eerie

that we do not recognise the fact that we do not have any laws which
meaningfully redress sexual harassment of women and children in public or
private spaces. The Law Commission had spotted this and recommended in
2000 a provision recognising and punishing child abuse with imprisonment
upto seven years. But nearly a decade has passed and nothing has been
done.
The law itself remains rooted in colonial formulations about women’s

“modesty” which is seen as an attribute of the female sex. Many judgements
have also held that all women do not possess modesty and therefore do not
deserve the protection of law.
Women’s organisations and groups have pointed out how the definitions
relating to rape, molestation and ‘eve-teasing’ are flawed and do not reflect
women’s experience of these crimes. They have also emphasised the urgent
need to differentiate between sexual crimes committed against adult women
and those committed against minors. The AIDWA and other women’s
organisations and groups have, time and again, complained about the
difficulty in registering a first information report (FIR) owing to gender bias
and corruption among large sections of the police force. They have
demanded that non-registering of an FIR be made an offence.
The Law Commission, in its 83rd report on “Rape and Allied Offences”,
suggested that a new section, 166 A, should be added to the IPC to make
the police accountable for deliberate inaction and disobedience of law.
38 | P a g e
The case against Rathore was filed under Sections 354 (molestation) and
509 (harassment) of the IPC. No case against him and the other police
personnel was filed for threatening the victim and her friend and their
families. No action was taken against those who filed false cases against the
victim’s brother at Rathore’s instance. These illegal acts were completely
disregarded by the police machinery and the Haryana government, and no
cases were filed against Rathore and those who acted on his behalf for
criminal intimidation, conspiracy and filing of false charges under Section
211.
Under Section 354 of the IPC, molestation is defined as “assault or criminal

force” by a man with an intention to “outrage the modesty of a woman” or
“knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty”. The crime
is cognisable and bailable. The section is problematic not only because it is
couched in archaic and meaningless language, but also because all forms of
sexual assaults other than rape have been included in it.
To ensure that the law relating to child sexual abuse is reflective of the exact
nature and seriousness of the abuse, AIDWA and others have suggested a
number of changes to it. They have suggested that the provision relating to
molestation in Section 354 should be amended to redefine molestation as
unlawful sexual contact and any man who touches/assaults a woman with a
sexual purpose should be liable for imprisonment up to three years and with
fine.
They have also suggested that if a child is molested or forced or incited to

touch the body of any other person, the imprisonment should extend up to
five years along with fine. If the molester is a person who is in a position of
trust or authority towards the minor or is a person on whom the minor is
dependent, the imprisonment should extend up to seven years. This
suggestion should also apply to custodial molestation.
39 | P a g e
It has further been recommended that the definition of rape should be

enlarged to ensure that some of the forms of child sexual abuse are also
considered rape. Such a definition would be in accordance with international
legal standards, including the definition of rape by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has defined rape in even broader terms, as
being “a physical invasion of a sexual nature, committed on a person under
circumstances which are coercive”.
The report in The Times of India also pointed out to the need of counselling
facility in the schools. The counselling facility is CBSE’s main requirement in
all schools, especially for adolescents. The Sacred Heart Senior Secondary
School, which had expelled Ruchika a month after the molestation case on
the grounds of indiscipline, still doesn’t have a dedicated counsellor or a
psychologist to tackle cases of harassment.
Another report of The Times of India compared the cases of K. P. S. Gill and
S. P. S. Rathore. Both were accused of molesting women, their trial took an
inordinately long time and both were let off with light punishments. The
report says if a trial court awarded six months prison for Rathore after 19
years of the incident or 15 years after Ruchika committed suicide, then Gill
got away with a prison term of three months for molesting IAS officer Rupan
Deol Bajaj in 1988.
According to Ram Rakshpal Singh, the state’s former police chief, Rathore
had stage-managed protests to influence an initial inquiry against him. Singh
said his report about the molestation, submitted to the state, was never
accepted, for unspecified reasons. He alleged that Rathore had roped in a
group form Rajiv Colony, near Panchkula, and leaders from Rajput
community to hold demonstrations in front of Singh’s house.
40 | P a g e
A report in Hindustan Times said that pressure mounted on the Centre and
Haryana governments to ask the CBI to file an appeal seeking a longer jail
term against Rathore. The demand grew louder as details of the Chandigarh
court judgment, which found Rathore guilty, showed the court agreed that
his crime was fully proved, but failed to give reasons for a mere six month
imprisonment.
The Times of India reported that Ruchika Girhotra’s alma mater – Sacred
Heart – appears to have plotted her expulsion from the school. It now
transpires that the school didn’t accept Ruchika’s fee and later expelled her
on the flimsy grounds that she didn’t pay it.
A senior Sacred Heart teacher said it was rare for the school to expel on the
grounds cited in Ruchika’s case. According to this teacher, either a month’s
notice is given or fine is imposed. In extreme situations, the students aren’t
allowed to take the exams.
An article in The Hindu asked to abolish the need for official, i.e. political
sanction to prosecute bureaucrats, policemen and security forces personnel
when they are accused of committing crimes. The original intent behind this
built-in stay-out-of-jail card was to protect state functionaries from acts
done in the course of discharging their duties in good faith. Somewhere
along the line, this has come to mean protecting our custodians of law and
order when they murder innocent civilians (eg. the infamous Panchalthan
case in Kashmir where the trial of army men indicated by the CBI for
murdering five villagers in 2000 still cannot take place because the Central
government will not grant permission), or assault or molest women and
children.
The article also suggests to bring an end to the cosy relationship between
the police and politicians. Rathore was protected by four chief ministers of
41 | P a g e
Haryana. He served them and they served him by ensuring his unfettered
rise.
Indian Police is still governed by a colonial-era Act dating back to 1861. A

number of commissions have made recommendations for reforming the
police over the years; but no government or political party wants to give up
its ability to use and misuse the police for their own benefit.
An article in The Indian Express points out the role of 24 hour news channels
in such cases. It says Ruchika lived and died in those dark, socialist days
when our only TV channel was Doordarshan. Had Ruchika lived today when
24-hour news channels make the crimes of men like Rathore public before
they can be protected by the state, it is possible she would still be alive.
Rathore would have been disgraced in the merciless glare of the media
before he had time to use the machinery of the state to hide this crime
under a tissue of lies. But, the Manu Sharma parole story reminds us that
the Indian state remains fundamentally corrupt and amoral and the only
thing that has changed since socialist times is the vigilance of private TV
channels.
The politicians who protected Rathore have been scrutinised by the media
and shamed publicly for what they did. But, we must remember that even
small-time politicians in India continue to have more power than they should
under the norms of democracy. The richest, most powerful Indians hesitate
to take them on because displeasing an important minister or chief minister
usually results in income tax raids and harassment of the kind that is not
very different to what Ruchika’s young brother went through. Asu, Ruchika’s
brother, was hardly a teenager but Rathore succeeded in putting so many
criminal cases against him that Ruchika was driven to suicide.
42 | P a g e
As for media, the mighty Fourth Estate, is equally vulnerable. In the dark
days of socialism there were black lists in Delhi’s Press Information Bureau
of journalists who made too much noise about government failures. These
lists no longer exist but journalists out of favour with the Government of
India find themselves shunned and denied access. In our state capitals the
problem is more serious. Journalists who spend too much time pursuing
corrupt politicians can end up dead.
If influential Indian citizens can be treated this way it does not take much to
imagine what happens to the voiceless and the poor. In rural India women
usually do not dare go into police stations to register a complaint for fear of
catching the eye of some local officer. Dalit and Adivasi girls are routinely
raped and if the rapist happens to be of upper caste, even if not a police
officer, they know there is no point in trying to get justice because their
families will be hounded out of the village.
A report in Hindustan Times pointed out that women are defending their
husbands charged with sex offence. The report said that this is one of the
four recent cases where wives have stood by their high profile husbands
booked for sex crimes. Abha Rathore, wife of Rathore, fought the case for
him. If actor Shiney Ahuja’s wife cried hoarse over her husband’s
implication in a rape case, former Punjab legislator Gaganjit Singh Barnala’s
wife Harpreet didn’t leave his side when he was accused of raping his
domestic help.
Former Haryana Inspector General of Police Ravi Kant Sharma’s wife,

Madhu, too braved the public ire when her husband was booked and later
convicted for the murder of Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar. But
she vouched for his innocence. In an interview Madhu said, it’s about having
faith in the spouse and the institution of marriage.
43 | P a g e
According to the report the trend isn’t limited to India alone. In the United
States, when US President Bill Clinton was embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky
scandal, Hillary Clinton put up a spirited defence for her husband.
As the Ruchika’s case created public uproar the government has decided to
make molestation a non-bailable offence, increasing the maximum
imprisonment for the crime from 2 to 5 years.
An article in The Times of India said fresh investigations into an incident that
happened so many years ago are unusual. But public and media pressure
have forced a relook at cases where the accused were powerful enough to
subvert justice. These include the Jessica Lal, Nitish Katara and Priyadarshini
Mattoo cases. The way these and Ruchika’s case were handled is a blot on
our investigating and judicial agencies.
But the heartening thing is that public pressure has succeeded in preventing
the accused from getting away. This is of course not an answer to the ills
plaguing the judicial delivery system in India, but only a short-term remedy
to make government agencies more responsive.
Another article in The Times of India said that many of the charges against
Rathore, such as abetment to suicide and obstructing justice, are yet to be
proved. It is incumbent on the media to exercise some restraint in its
coverage. If it does not, there is real danger of a trial by media.
The legal principle of sub judice exists precisely to prevent any public action
or comment from interfering with the due process of law. Can the crusade
for getting justice for Jessica and now Ruchika influence the legal process?
There are no easy answers. But what can be said with some certainty is that
the intense media campaign has laid bare the ineptitude of investigating
agencies and the use of influence. But once a case is before the court, it is
up to the judiciary to evaluate available evidence to the best of its ability.
44 | P a g e
Conclusion
To sum up it can be said that media has given considerable attention to the
Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. Media not only pointed out the legal
loopholes in the case but also the misuse of power by the people sitting on
the key positions in our bureaucratic system. The attention has been drawn
towards those who are sitting on the other side of the fence.
Media coverage of the case also stressed the need to amend the age old
laws and sections of the IPC. There is need to sensitise the legal system
towards the plea of the victim. The issue has also highlighted the need to
bring in police reforms.
The case has drawn attention of public and the government equally. The
government plans to tighten the noose on sexual offenders by widening the
definition of sexual assault to include "perverse sexual acts" that currently
do not attract the same punishment as rape. Sexual assault in any form -
penetration by any part of a man's body or any object into any part of the
woman's body - will now attract the same punishment as rape, which can
extend to life imprisonment but will not be less than seven years.
Many of the offences that are not defined as rape currently pass off as minor
crimes such as molestation, hurt or grievous hurt attracting relatively mild
punishment.
If the accused is a relative or a person in position of trust or authority or one

who commits the sexual assault persistently - an apparent reference to child
abuse - the punishment will now be not less than 10 years in jail.
Also, the age at which a girl can have consensual sex will be increased to 18
years from the existing age of 16. This means any sexual activity with a girl
below the age of 18, even with her consent, will be a crime.
45 | P a g e
Earlier, an exception to the law was that a man could have sex with his wife
if she was at least 15 years of age. But now, the age of consent has been
fixed at 18 years without exception.
The ministry of home affairs sent the draft of the 'Criminal Law
(Amendment) Bill, 2010' to all states and Union Territories and invited
opinion from the public on the proposed changes.
May 15 has been set as the deadline for suggestions and comments before
the government takes the bill to the Union Cabinet for clearance.
Though Section 377 continues to remain in the Indian Penal Code, a new
Section 376 C(1) has been inserted to protect minors from sexual abuse.
For the first time, the police will be liable to properly investigate such cases
failing which they could be put behind bars for up to one year or fined.
Changes have also been proposed in the Indian Evidence Act to shift the
onus of proving innocence in a sexual assault case on the accused and the
word of the victim that she did not consent to the act would be presumed to
be correct.
"Where the question of consent is an issue, evidence of the character of the

victim or previous sexual experience with any person shall not be relevant
on the issue of such consent or the quality of the consent. Where the
question of consent is an issue, it shall not be permissible to adduce
evidence or to put questions in the cross- examination of the victim as to
general immoral character or previous sexual experience," the draft bill says.
As a fallout of this case Rathore has been stripped off his Police medal and
the court has ordered day to day hearing in the case.
46 | P a g e
After so much attention by media, the government decided to notify a

landmark amendment in some sections of the Criminal Procedure Code. The
definition of rape has also been expanded.
When Ruchika’s brother Ashu has been arrested in the false cases and the
family was being harassed, the local court took suo moto cognizance of the
reports published in The Indian Express and ordered a probe. After the local
court gave verdict in the case media took up the issue and pointed towards
the inadequacy of the punishment in the wake of harassment faced by the
victim and the family.
47 | P a g e
Bibliography
Newspapers
• The Times of India
• The Indian Express
• The Hindu
• Hindustan Times
Magazines
• Frontline, Vol. 27-Issue 02: Jan 16-29, 2010
• Outlook
• India Today
Websites
• http://www.thehoot.org/
• http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/anubhabhonsle/178/54041/justice-for-not-
only-ruchika.html
• http://www.harpyness.com/2010/01/06/justice-for-ruchika/
Books
• Women & media: a critical introduction By Carolyn M. Byerly, Karen

Ross
• Rhyming hope and history: activists, academics, and social movement

scholarship By David Croteau
• Future active: media activism and the internet By Graham Meikle
48 | P a g e
• Media and mediation By Bernard Bel
• The anthropology of globalization: a reader By Jonathan Xavier Inda,

Renato Rosaldo
• Understanding Community Media By Kevin Howley
• Asian Americans and the Media By Kent A. Ono, Vincent Pham
• Women journalists in Namibia's liberation struggle, 1985-1990 By

Maria Mboono Nghidinwa, Henning
49 | P a g e

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Media Activism: Case Study

Media activism refers to a situation where media specifically focuses on a

Such cases often trigger a discussion on how the media tramples on

Nineteen years ago, S.P.S. Rathore, a senior police official in Haryana,

An internal police probe in 1990 into the assault recommended a case be

There is genuine concern that any prejudicial publication or broadcast in the

The Law Commission observed: “If media exercises an unrestricted or rather

The Law Commission’s concerns are understandable, but the process of

In exploring this relationship, social movement theorists have defined media

If social movement scholars have shown that media matter to movements,

In a book Understanding Community Media edited by Kevin Howley the

For instance, in societies making the transition from authoritarian rule to

misinformation campaigns as well as media consolidation are increasingly

Media activism is not a new concept in India. Even in pre-Independence

Media justice is a hypothetical term used to denote the contrived media

Media, by and large encompasses the idea of an ideal public sphere,

solidarity with the victims as seen in the case of anti-reservation/pro-

Three people in different parts of the country were languishing in jail.

Media activism and Trial

According to Soli Sorabjee there is a basic distinction between media

1. What aspects of the case were covered in the reports?

Date IE The TOI HT

3. Aradhana’s statement in court 22 Dec

4. Handing over of the investigation to CBI 22Dec

5. Moving out of Ruchika’s family from Chandigarh 22 Dec

8. Reaction on Rathore’s punishment 22 Dec

9. Family tried to avoid public gaze 22 Dec

10. Girhotra’s reaction to the verdict, accused 22 Dec

12. Expulsion from the school without citing any 22 Dec

trail courts 26 Dec

penalizing child sexual abuse (not redressed 26 Dec

16. No counselling facility at the school that could 23 Dec

20. Why Rathore wasn’t charged with abetment of 23Dec

seeking civil damages for the family

28. Legal experts blamed police for lapses 23 Dec

29. Delayed justice 23 Dec

34. Six months imprisonment not enough: Experts 24 Dec

36. Comparison of Rathore’s case with DGP K P S 24 Dec

38. Rathore faces an appeal in the SC accusing him 24 Dec

sentence, also decided to serve a show-cause

suicide( Section 306, the maximum punishment 27 Dec

43. Budding tennis player, after her molestation 25 Dec

44. Former Haryana home secretary J K Duggal 25 Dec

to strip Rathore of the Police Medal

consumption of slimming pills 30 Dec

recieved a dozen odd RTI, evidence strictly 30 Dec

has decided to place the matter before the

57. CBI top officer, former CBI Joint Director R M 28 Dec

58. Centre may soon come up with a policy to 28 Dec

light of the facts

61. Ruchika’s school faces probe 29 Dec

62. NHRC would approach Punjab & Haryana HC to 29 Dec

then Ambala SP K P Singh, who is currently IG 10

66. Aradhana opened an e-mail id, inviting people 29 Dec

enhancement of punishment for Rathore, for SC

71. NCW demanded filing of fresh cases in 30 Dec

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973-is understood 10

not to take extreme measures against 31 Dec

been struggling for justice after she was

DGP Rathore 12 Jan

82. Haryana govt formed a special investigation 31 Dec

provides for video recording of witness

87. SIT to summon former DGP for questioning 31 Dec

94. If the proposed Judicial Standards & 1 Jan