Her name is Aradhana Prakash.
She was 14 years old in August 1990. Ruchika Girhotra’s best friend. A fellow tennis trainee at the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association.
She was in the room when S P S Rathore called them both to his office. He sent her out on a pretext. When she returned she found Ruchika distressed.
She was the sole eyewitness. The only person who could testify to what happened that day.
For 19 years Rathore tried to silence her.
He filed civil case after civil case against her family. Cases against journalists covering the story. Cases against the lawyers fighting it.
Ruchika died in December 1993. Her father and brother were harassed so badly they had to leave Panchkula entirely.
Aradhana and her parents stayed.
Her father Anand Prakash and mother Madhu Prakash attended over 400 hearings across 19 years. Every single one. They never settled. They were never intimidated.
The court found Aradhana’s testimony unimpeachable. The judgment relied on her as the sole witness to convict Rathore in December 2009.
When Rathore was attacked outside court by a member of the public she went on television and asked people not to take the law into their own hands. She said that for 19 years they had always worked within the law.
Her father Anand Prakash died of prostate cancer in January 2018 aged 74. He had attended more than 400 hearings. He lived long enough to see Rathore convicted. He did not live long enough to see justice feel complete.
Yesterday, many people here read the story of Ruchika Girhotra for the first time.
Most of them had never even heard her name before.
They should.
Follow for stories India deserves to remember.
Her name was Ruchika Girhotra. She was 14 years old. A tennis player from Panchkula, Haryana. On August 12 1990, she went to meet S.P.S. Rathore at his office. He was the Inspector General of Police and head of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association.
He had promised her father he would arrange special coaching for her. When her friend stepped out of the room, he molested her. Her family filed a complaint three days later. Rathore had her expelled from school.
Her father was suspended from his bank job on false charges. Six cases were filed against her brother Ashu. The family's house was forcibly sold. They fled to the outskirts of Shimla and took up earth filling work to survive.
On December 28 1993, days after Ashu was paraded in handcuffs through their neighbourhood, Ruchika consumed poison. She died the next day. She was 17. Rathore threw a party that night. He then refused to release her body to her father unless he signed blank papers.
Those papers were later used to forge documents accepting a false autopsy report. Despite a police inquiry recommending an FIR against him, Rathore kept getting promoted. He became the Director General of Police of Haryana in 1999.
The case went through 40 adjournments and more than 400 hearings over 19 years. In December 2009 a court convicted him of molestation. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined Rs 1,000. The sentence was later enhanced to 18 months.
The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 2016 but reduced it to the time already served. He walked free. The judge who tried to add abetment to suicide charges against him was forced into premature retirement. The judge who dismissed those charges was a neighbour of
Ruchika's family involved in a property dispute with them. S.P.S. Rathore was later invited as a VIP guest to a Republic Day event in Panchkula. Ruchika Girhotra was 14 when he molested. She was 17 when she died.
Saved a life today in Goa.
An ambulance carrying a critical patient lost its way because there was no mobile signal, and the driver was struggling to reach the hospital. Being a professional co-driver, I quickly used offline Google Maps, guided the driver through the route, and we reached the hospital safely.
It made me think our personal vehicles come loaded with advanced technology, so why don’t ambulances have reliable offline GPS navigation systems? Why aren’t they equipped with better suspension for critically ill patients?
After spending an hour inside that ambulance, I noticed things most people never get to experience. When every second matters, these aren’t luxuries they’re necessities.
I hope the authorities take this seriously because better-equipped ambulances can save countless lives! 🙏🏻 @MORTHIndia
@ANANDStudent1@Priyanka1249018@Purba_Ray Are student of these congress ruled states protesting against paper leak not students? Dipke was a 3rd rate gutter before, and is a sewage now as well. Irrespective of the political brownie points scored.
MEET 23-YEAR-OLD ASMITA DEY 🇮🇳🥹
Born in a small village in Tripura, Asmita is the daughter of a bicycle mechanic who struggled every day to provide for his family.
They were so poor that they depended on ration cards just to put food on the table.
When 12-year-old Asmita left home after being selected in a talent search, her father folded his hands before her coach and made just one request:
“Sir, we’re very small people. Please help my daughter become someone.”
That one sentence became her life’s purpose.
She spent years away from home, travelling for days to compete, often without confirmed train tickets, chasing a dream that seemed impossible.
Then, heartbreak struck ❤️🩹
Just days before qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, her father passed away after suffering a brain stroke.
She flew home, performed his last rites, and quietly returned to training.
Today, with tears in her eyes, Asmita Dey fulfilled her late father’s dream by becoming India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games Judo Gold Medallist. 🥇🇮🇳
He couldn’t be there to watch her stand on top of the podium.
But every step she took was for him.
Some victories are far bigger than medals.
This is one of them. 🫡🥹
@dhangarranglal2 Yeh haraamzaade vote chor chanda chor ka natak hai. Aur ab to ""CJP"" -- MODI KA ISTIFA LE KAR HI MANEGI. MODI K BAAD NITIN GADBADI KA ISTIFA BHI LENA CHAHIYE.
AUR 🙏VIJAY THALAPATHY🙏 KO PM BANANE KI TAYARI KARNI CHAHIYE.