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Court orders reinstatement of 19 police personnel

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 8. A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered reinstatement of 19 police personnel who, along with four other colleagues, were dismissed from service about eight years ago on charges of corruption.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption personnel from Salem and Dharmapuri raided the Karimangalam police station in 1997 after receiving information that the personnel there were collecting bribe from prohibition offenders. After preliminary enquiry, disciplinary action was initiated against 23 police personnel and they were dismissed from service. During pendency of the cases, one of them died and three attained superannuation.

The Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal ordered their reinstatement on April 30, 2003. The Government appealed against the order in the High Court.

Upholding the Tribunal order, the Bench, comprising Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice S.K. Krishnan, said out of the 28 prosecution witnesses only 10, all of whom were official witnesses, had given statements supporting the prosecution.

The judges said the statements of independent witnesses were indispensable for proving the charges. "When the evidence of official witnesses has not been corroborated by independent witnesses, the evidence of such official witnesses is unreliable and therefore, the imposition of extreme punishment on the basis of uncorroborated and unreliable evidence is not sustainable under law, and therefore, the same is liable to be set aside."

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