Being in locked house not proof of affair: Court

Being in locked house not proof of affair: Court

Chennai:04.02.2021

An illicit sexual relationship cannot be presumed merely because a man and woman were found inside a locked house, the Madras high court has said.

“Presence of two individuals of opposite sex inside a locked house need not necessarily lead to a presumption that they were in an immoral relationship. This kind of presumption prevailing in society cannot be the basis for initiating disciplinary action and inflicting punishment,” Justice R Suresh Kumar said. He made the observation while quashing the termination of service of an armed reserve police constable on the ground of ‘moral turpitude’, because he was found inside a locked house along with a woman constable.

On October 10, 1998, a woman constable entered the residential quarters of constable K Saravana Babu and the door was found locked from inside when neighbours knocked. According to Saravanan, the woman constable had come to his home around 7.30pm asking for keys of her house located close by. While they were talking, someone locked the door from outside and then pretended to knock on it, he added. The judge pointed to statements of witnesses which said the door was locked from outside too. “There was absolutely no eyewitness or any other concrete evidence to prove that the two constables were found in a compromising position. Based on suspicion and conjectures, one cannot conclude that unlawful or immoral activities had taken place,” the judge said, quashing the termination of Babu. TNN