Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: January 17, 2022 at 18:45 IST
The Bombay High Court recently quashed an order of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which dismissed a constable due to allegations against him for raping a five-year-old daughter of his colleague.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) dismissed the accused constable under Rule 39(ii) of the Central Industrial Security Force Rules reinstated under Article 311(2) of the Constitution of India.
The Bombay High Court observed that just because the constable is accused of raping a five-year-old, that is not a good enough reason to dismiss him from his job till a departmental inquiry is conducted by the agency.
The High Court Bench of Justices Prasanna Varale and N R Borkar stated that, “We must state that dismissal from service is the harshest punishment and it is akin to economic death penalty for an employee. Therefore, more objective approach was required to be adopted by the disciplinary authority while dispensing with the inquiry.”
On March 29, 2018, a First Information Report was filed against 32-year-old Udaynath Tirkey under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 4, Section 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO).
The High Court stated, “None of the circumstances, which the disciplinary authority has taken into consideration, can be said to be sufficient to dispense with disciplinary inquiry, if tested on the touchstone of the illustrative instances mentioned by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v/s. Tulsiram Patel (supra).”
The Bombay High Court Division Bench set aside and quashed all the impugned orders by the Disciplinary Authority against the Petitioner in this case and ordered the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to reinstate the Petitioner in service.