Sexual harassment: HC strikes down ‘inadequate punishment’
Court sends back case for re-fixing quantum of punishment for policeman
02/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI
Expressing shock over how a police constable was simply given a punishment of postponement of his increment for three years on a charge of sexual harassment of a girl, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday remitted the case back to disciplinary inquiry, to re-fix the quantum of punishment.
A Division Bench of Justices K. Ravichandrabaabu and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed that the punishment imposed on the constable was totally inadequate and disproportionate to the grave misconduct committed by him. The matter should be considered afresh for determining the quantum of punishment.
The court said that under Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu Police Subordinate Service (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 1955, the appellate authority is empowered to confirm, enhance, reduce or set aside the penalty.
Even though the constable had agreed with the findings of the inquiry officer, a minor punishment was imposed on him, the court observed.
The court was hearing an appeal preferred by the State against the order of a single bench that had set aside the punishment.
It was said that the constable, P. Karuppusamy, had abducted a girl and abused her in 2012. Following the incident, a criminal case was registered against him in Theni district. The single bench had taken into account the reliance of the inquiry officer on preliminary inquiry statements alone and disposed of the case at the admission stage itself.
The HC Bench observed that the single bench had erred on this account, set aside the order and allowed the appeal preferred by the State.
Court sends back case for re-fixing quantum of punishment for policeman
02/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI
Expressing shock over how a police constable was simply given a punishment of postponement of his increment for three years on a charge of sexual harassment of a girl, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday remitted the case back to disciplinary inquiry, to re-fix the quantum of punishment.
A Division Bench of Justices K. Ravichandrabaabu and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed that the punishment imposed on the constable was totally inadequate and disproportionate to the grave misconduct committed by him. The matter should be considered afresh for determining the quantum of punishment.
The court said that under Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu Police Subordinate Service (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 1955, the appellate authority is empowered to confirm, enhance, reduce or set aside the penalty.
Even though the constable had agreed with the findings of the inquiry officer, a minor punishment was imposed on him, the court observed.
The court was hearing an appeal preferred by the State against the order of a single bench that had set aside the punishment.
It was said that the constable, P. Karuppusamy, had abducted a girl and abused her in 2012. Following the incident, a criminal case was registered against him in Theni district. The single bench had taken into account the reliance of the inquiry officer on preliminary inquiry statements alone and disposed of the case at the admission stage itself.
The HC Bench observed that the single bench had erred on this account, set aside the order and allowed the appeal preferred by the State.
No comments:
Post a Comment