Prosecution of the same allegations cannot proceed if the accused is exonerated in a ministerial proceeding: Allahabad HC

A bank of Justice Saurabh Lavania He reasoned that the standard of procedure in criminal cases is beyond a reasonable doubt, which far exceeds the preponderance of probabilities, the standard of proof required in disciplinary proceedings.

“If the same witnesses in the disciplinary proceedings were unable to prove/establish the same/identical allegations, there is no point in continuing the criminal proceedings if the standard of proof required to establish guilt is far higher than the standard of proof required to establish guilt in the departmental proceedings“, the court further noted.

The case in brief

The court made these observations while granting a preliminary motion Accused Jagdish Singh @ Jagdish Kumar Singh seeks dismissal in a case filed under Sections 323, 504, 506, 307, 332, 353, 188, 270 IPC for alleged violation of lockdown guidelines and ill-treatment and assault of police personnel.

Based on an investigation in this case, a charge sheet was filed against the accused, Jagdish Singh (who was then working as an Assistant Review Officer in the High Court); However, before the decision on the same could be taken, he was suspended on the orders of the Magistrate, Registrar General of the Supreme Court and subsequently an internal departmental inquiry was initiated against him by issuing a charge sheet to him.

Importantly, the indictment filed in the criminal case dated July 14, 2020 and the indictment issued for the conduct of disciplinary proceedings contained similar charges and witnesses to prove the charges against him.

After due consideration of the charges and all the evidence on record as set out in the report of the Inquiry Officer, the Registrar General of the HC on July 13, 2021 exonerated the complainant of the allegations made against him in the disciplinary/administrative proceedings and subsequently his suspension was also revoked.

The plaintiff’s main argument before the court was that the criminal proceedings could potentially be dropped as he had been exonerated in the departmental proceedings based on the same/identical allegations underlying the FIR.

The single judge relied on the judgments of the Supreme Court in the cases of Lokesh Kumar Jain vs. State of Rajasthan and Radheshyam Kejriwal vs. State of West Bengal et al., wherein it was held that in case of relief in a ministerial proceeding, if found on the merits If the allegation is found to have no merit at all and the person has been found innocent, then the prosecution cannot proceed based on the same facts and circumstances.

The court also referred to the recent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Ashoo Surendranath Tewai (Supra) vs. Deputy Superintendent of Police, EOW, CBI and another, while reiterating the same observation.

Against this background, it is noted that the reliability and authenticity of the allegations against the complainant were already examined in the disciplinary proceedings and that the complainant was exonerated after the court took note of the statements of witnesses who made the same/identical allegations in the would prove criminal proceedings The court dismissed the entire criminal proceedings and the application was granted.

Case Title – Jagdish Singh @ Jagdish Kumar Singh vs. State Of UP Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. And another one

Case quote:

Click here to read/download the order