President approves stripping Medals of DGP Rathore

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has approved the stripping of former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore of his the meritorious service medal following his conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources confirmed that the President had assented the Home Ministry's proposal to strip the police official of his medals. Rathore, had earlier got away with a light punishment for molesting budding tennis player Ruchika who later committed suicide. However, following the public outrage, the Central Government had decided to strip the IPS officer of his police medals. The Home Ministry had approached the President with the proposal, which was cleared by the President some time back.

The Home Ministry had taken action against Rathore on the recommendation made by the Central Police Awards Committee(CPAC). The CPAC, headed by Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai, had recommended to the President for the withdrawal of the 1985 Police Medal given to Rathore for "moral turpitude" or bringing "disrepute or disrespect" to the service following his conviction. The six-month sentence for Rathore had also led to a furore, which forced the government to take several steps including a direction to the CBI for appealing against the verdict and seek a maximum punishment (two years) for the accused. The Home Ministry has also served a show cause notice to Rathore asking as to why his pension and other post-retirement benefits should not be reduced.