MAHAVIR SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner, an ASI in BSF, was accused of outraging the modesty of a constable's wife and charged under Section 40 of the BSF Act for an act prejudicial to good order and discipline of the Force. He was tried by the Summary Security Force Court (SSFC). He allegedly entered plea of guilty and was dismissed from service on 15.5.1998. He filed a statutory complaint against this which was rejected. He has now filed this petition in which notice was issued limited to the issue of disproportionality of punishment awarded to him in the facts and circumstances of the case.

(2.) This disproportionality of the quantum of punishment is, therefore, the only issue to be dealt with. It is no more res integra that judicial review was exercisable even in cases of sentence awarded by the court martial where it was found that it was shocking to judicial conscience in the facts and circumstances of the case or afflicted by perversity and irrationality. Dealing with the doctrine of proportionality, the Supreme Court held in Ranjit Thakur Vs. Union (1987) 4 SCC 611:-

(3.) The test laid down by the Supreme Court in the judgment (supra) still occupies the field though it has been repeatedly emphasised in the later judgments that the courts should refrain from interfering in the sentence punishment on compassionate grounds or for harshness except for ex-facie perversity or irrationality. In Union Vs. R.K.Sharma.(2001) 9 SCC 592, the Supreme Court said;-