'No police job for person acquitted in criminal case'

A man can be denied recruitment into police force on the ground of having faced a criminal case despite his discharge or acquittal, the Supreme Court held on Monday.

In a significant ruling, the apex court said a candidate desirous to join police services must be a man of character, integrity and clean antecedent.

“A candidate to be recruited to the police service must be worthy of confidence and must be a person of utmost rectitude and must have impeccable character and integrity. A person having criminal antecedents will not fit in this category. Even if he is acquitted or discharged, it cannot be presumed that he was completely exonerated.People who are likely to erode the credibility of the police ought not to enter the police force,” a bench of Justices T S Thakur and Adarsh Kumar Goel said.

The court set aside a Madhya Pradesh High Court order which allowed a plea made by Parvez Khan for appointment to constable’s job on compassionate ground. His father, working in MP police, had died in harness.

Khan sought appointment but found to be involved in two criminal cases. He claimed that he was discharged in one case while in another he was acquitted after prosecution.

The authorities, however, rejected his claim, finding him unfit for appointment in government services.

The state government contended that if a person is acquitted or discharged, it cannot always be inferred that he was falsely involved and he had no criminal antecedents. All that may be inferred is that he has not been proved to be guilty, it said.