The Telangana High Court, in a recent judgment, sided with two retired police officers and modified the punishment they received for an incident 17 years ago when two undertrial prisoners had escaped under their watch.
Partly allowing their petition, the September 12 judgment by Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao also upheld the finding that the officers were guilty of “gross negligence and dereliction of duties”. However, it ruled that the original penalty, which impacted their pensions, was “excessive” given their otherwise clean records.
The case dates back to August 2008, when the two assistant reserve sub-inspectors were escorting two undertrial prisoners, described in the judgment as “dangerous dacoits”, from Rajahmundry Central Jail to a court in Ramannapet. The prisoners escaped within the jurisdiction of Chityal police station.
Following an inquiry, which found the charge of misconduct was proved, the officers were given a punishment of ‘Postponement of Increment’ (PPI) for two years, with effect on both future increments and, critically, their pensions. Their suspension period was also treated as “not on duty”. The officers, on their part, argued that they were not provided with weapons or a proper vehicle, making it difficult to prevent the escape.
The court confirmed the misconduct, emphasising that the officers “have not acted with due diligence and care, thereby the UT prisoners, who are dangerous dacoits, escaped from the custody”.
However, Justice Rao noted that the two officers had no other disciplinary issues during their long service. “If the punishment imposed is too disproportionate to the gravity of the misconduct proved and it shocks the judicial conscience, the penalties/punishment imposed can be interfered with,” the court held.
Considering that the case had been pending for a long time and the officers had already retired, the court decided to modify the punishment itself instead of sending it back to the disciplinary authority. The high court modified the original punishment of PPI for two years with effect on future increments and pension to a punishment of PPI for two years without any cumulative effect and without any effect on pension, though they will not receive monetary benefits for that period.
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The court also kept the original ruling that the suspension period of nearly seven months (August 2008 to February 2009) will be treated as “not on duty”, but directed that it should be counted for pensionary benefits if it had not already been.
