Delhi High Court has set aside a 20-year-old order that compulsorily retired a CISF officer over sexual harassment allegations, ruling that the complaint filed in 1998 by a woman constable appeared to be driven by vendetta rather than genuine grievance.
Quashing the order against then assistant commandant R S Yadav, now 72, the court observed that the allegations “reek of vengeance” and noted that senior officers had ordered repeated preliminary inquiries despite Yadav being cleared on three earlier occasions, eventually holding him guilty and terminating his service.
In its recent verdict, the court said the complaint letter seemed “motivated or actuated by some ulterior motive”, possibly because Yadav had initiated action against the complainant. “The possibility that an exaggerated, if not false, complaint was filed due to the warning issued to her cannot be ruled out,” the court remarked.
Taking note of the long lapse of time, the HC said that since 25 years had passed and the officer was now 72, “the least we can do is to restore his honour, which, according to us, was destroyed by the action of ordering compulsory retirement.” The court also recorded that Yadav had sought restoration of dignity rather than monetary gain and was willing to forgo arrears or consequential financial benefits.
The bench ruled that Yadav shall be deemed to have served in the Central Industrial Security Force until the age of superannuation. The period between his compulsory retirement and retirement age will be notionally counted towards service, and his pension revised accordingly. While he will not be entitled to arrears, he will receive the revised pension going forward, the court said.
