Cop conceals rape case info; Telangana HC upholds dismissal order

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court has upheld the decision of the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) to cancel the provisional selection of a 29-year-old man as a trainee police constable after finding that he failed to disclose his involvement in a criminal case during the recruitment process.The candidate, a resident of Asif Nagar, had earlier been booked in a rape case but was later acquitted after he married the survivor. While he cleared the recruitment stages for the constable post, the board cancelled his selection on the grounds that he had deliberately concealed this criminal case.He challenged the cancellation in the high court, which initially ruled in his favour. The TSLPRB then filed an appeal.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, which heard the appeal, ruled on Monday in favour of the recruitment board. The bench said that the candidate was involved in an offence of moral turpitude – rape – and said he “does not deserve any sympathy”. The bench set aside the earlier single judge order that had directed the board to reinstate his selection.After hearing arguments from lawyers for the recruitment board and the candidate, the bench observed that although the man claimed he did not mention the case in his verification form because he had been acquitted in 2019, the acquittal happened only as a result of a compromise after marrying the survivor. This, the court said, was not a clean acquittal.“It was incumbent upon the candidate to have voluntarily disclosed this fact in the verification form. His failure to do so amounts to suppression of material facts,” the bench stated.The judges added that the earlier decision of the court, which had taken a sympathetic view because the candidate married the survivor, was an error. The bench further said ignorance cannot be an excuse when seeking appointment in a disciplined force entrusted with upholding law and order and protecting citizens.