SUSHANATA GHOSH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has been removed from service upon his wife having committed suicide at the official quarters allotted to the petitioner. The petitioner questions the very jurisdiction of the disciplinary proceedings on the ground that the charge-sheet issued to him would not fall within the parameters of Sec. 8(i) of the Central Industrial Security Force Act, 1968. The petitioner also cites his acquittal in the criminal proceedings to assert that the disciplinary authority, the appellate authority and the revisional authority erred in agreeing with and upholding the findings of the inquiry officer.

(2.) Though the assessment that is necessary in this extraordinary jurisdiction by the constitutional court is purely supervisory in nature and to ensure that all procedural safeguards were maintained and a reasonable opportunity was afforded to the delinquent to present his version, since the petitioner has been removed from service, the findings of the inquiry officer and the recording the oral evidence before the inquiry officer have been looked into.

(3.) The inquiry officer recorded that the petitioner's father had indicated that his son did not have a good marital life and was always suspicious of his wife. The petitioner's father-in-law initially corroborated such position. It was the petitioner's father-in-law who lodged the complaint following which the petitioner was arrested and charges were brought against him, including under Sections 498A and 304B of the Indian Penal Code. The inquiry officer recorded the retraction of his original complaint by the father-in-law, but found enough material otherwise to render a finding that the petitioner was abusive of his wife and had tortured her.