Supreme Court grants relief to police officer accused of abdicating duty during 1984 anti-Sikh riots

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of an ex-Delhi Police officer who had challenged the reduction in his rank and disciplinary proceedings against him for alleged inaction and dereliction of duty during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots [Durga Prasad v Govt of NCT of Delhi & Ors]. .A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra said that the disciplinary proceeding against officer Durga Prasad, posted as Station House Office of Kingsway Camp in 1984, was initiated after eight years of the riots and by then he was already promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP). “No doubt, misconduct may arise out of an act or an omission. Where it relates to an alleged omission, greater caution is required before putting an officer in the dock. In case of such nature, the disciplinary authority may also have to empathise with the situation in which the charged officer was placed at the relevant time," the Court said. It said that"Because in hindsight it is easy to say that things could have been handled better if they had been done this way, or that way. But if this alone is taken as a basis to punish police personnel who, though may not have delivered the desired result, have done their best, commensurate to the resources available to them at the relevant time, grave injustice would be done. Instant case appears to be of that kind,” the Court said. .Prasad was accused of not making any preventive detentions or deploying proper force in the area to disperse the rioters. However, the inquiry officer exonerated him. The disciplinary authority disagreed with the findings and ordered a fresh inquiry. This decision to hold fresh probe was set aside by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).Following this, the disciplinary authority issued Prasad a disagreement note and after considering his response, imposed a penalty of reduction in rank from the post of Assistant Commissioner of Police to to the post of Inspector till retirement. Prasad challenged the order before the CAT which dismissed his plea. When he moved to the Delhi High Court, a Division Bench asked the disciplinary authority to issue a fresh disagreement note. The Court also quashed the order reducing his rank..In its decision, the Supreme Court set aside the set aside the Delhi High Court order to the extent it allowed the disciplinary authority to issue a fresh disagreement note against the findings exonerating Prasad. The Court upheld the part of the High Court order which had quashed the order reducing his rank. “For all the reasons above, we are of the considered view that it would be too harsh upon the appellant to undergo a fresh exercise of disagreement note and consequential process, particularly when the incident is over 40 years old and the appellant has demitted office long time back,” the top court noted. Therefore, it allowed Prasad’s appeal. .[Read Judgment]