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Supreme Court dismisses Som Mittal plea

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to re-examine the contentions of Som Mittal, former Managing Director of Hewlett Packard Global Software Ltd., for quashing the FIR lodged against him by the Karnataka police, alleging that his company violated a State government order prohibiting night shift for women.

A three-Judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R. V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal, considered the legal issues referred to it but said that “it is unnecessary to examine the contentions [of Mr. Mittal] on merits” as Justices H.K. Sema and Markandey Katju had concurred and dismissed the appeal, paving the way for the trial to proceed.

After the incident involving the rape and murder of Pratibha Srikant Murthy, an employee of the company, on December 13, 2005, the police filed an FIR accusing Mr. Mittal, the then BPO chief, of violating the statutory orders.

Mr. Mittal’s plea to quash the FIR was rejected by the Karnataka High Court. On January 29, the apex court Bench of Mr. Justice H.K. Sema and Mr. Justice Katju dismissed Mr. Mittal’s appeal.

However, the matter was referred to the three-Judge Bench for considering the legal issues.

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