Bhopal Police Constable vs The State of M.P.

The judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court records the following account. Constable, posted at Police Station Mishrod, Bhopal, was charge-sheeted in February 1988 for pursuing a 14-year-old girl, developing physical relations with her, and thereby causing her pregnancy and delivery of a child. He was acquitted in the criminal case under Section 376 IPC on 7 March 1992 as the prosecution failed to prove the prosecutrix was below 16, after which the department held a fresh enquiry and the Superintendent of Police, Bhopal dismissed him on 11 January 1993, affirmed by the DIG and DGP. The Madhya Pradesh High Court held the victim's firm statement of forcible intercourse under threats, corroborated by her parents with no previous enmity, sustained the enquiry findings, and that a benefit-of-doubt acquittal applying the criminal standard of proof does not bar departmental action. The Court held involvement in a Section 376 case itself impaired the image of the disciplined police force, gave its stamp of approval to the dismissal, and dismissed the writ petition. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.