No cop job for acquitted man

Selected candidate settled case out of court

The trial court acquitted him on grounds that 13 out of 16 witnesses had turned hostile. Even the complainant deposed that the accuse had no role in the attack on him and said that the case was settled out of court

The Telangana High Court has upheld the decision of the state Police Recruitment Board (PRB) to cancel the provisional selection of a candidate as constable after it found that he had been booked in a criminal case and was acquitted due to an out-ofcourt settlement after the witnesses turned hostile.

Referring to a Supreme Court order that the employer may take an appropriate decision if the applicant during recruitment is acquitted in a criminal case recorded as not a case of clean acquittal, Justice P. Naveen Rao upheld the PRB decision.

The judge pointed out that the person seeking recruitment in the police must have impeccable character, integrity and high standard of conduct. Once a candidate is involved in a criminal case, mere acquittal does not absolve him of his criminal background and strict scrutiny is required.

The candidate, Mr Karra Krishna Kumar from Sangareddy, cleared the written examination as well as the physical test. After including his name in the provisional selection list, it was found during antecedent verification that he was involved in a criminal case at the Narayankhed police station and the case was pending trial. Upon that finding, his provisional selection was cancelled by the board.

One year later, the trial court acquitted him on grounds that 13 out of 16 witnesses had turned hostile. Even the complainant deposed that Mr Kumar had no role in the attack on him and submitted that the case was settled out of court.

With the acquittal order, the applicant approached the PRB to reconsider his selection. When it turned him down, he approached the High Court for relief.