Misbehaviour and Trespass: Delhi HC upholds BSF personnel’s termination from service [Read Judgment]

The Delhi High Court has upheld termination of two BSF personnel from service for committing trespass and misbehaviour. A Bench comprising of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani dismissed their writ petitions against dismissal from service.

In one case, the allegation against Daya Dhar Prasad who was serving as Water carrier with BSF, was that he misbehaved with a girl, being in a state of intoxication and has also committed trespass. In another case, Rakesh Kumar was accused of trespassing into the house of one villager in a drunken condition and created nuisance. It was also found that he was not on duty at that time and that the place he had visited was declared out of bounds for the force personnel.

About crossing BoP by BSF personals without permission, the Court observed: We need to speak a word upon the requirement of the force personnel not to leave the BoP without prior sanction. The personnel of the Border Security Force are generally stationed at the Line of Control on the Indo-Pak Line of Control and along the border with Bangladesh. The border at Bangladesh is highly porous. Lot of infiltration takes place. Cattle smuggling into Bangladesh from India is rampant. The traffickers have their sympathisers in the villages along the border. The BoPs are on the border. There is hostility of a few local residents against the members of the force and thus the members of the force have to be isolated from the civilians. Further, illicit liquor is freely available in these villages and women selectively. If a force personnel is enticed into drinking or caught in a honey trap information regarding movement of the various companies of the battalion as also the location of the BoPs can be extracted. The jawans of BSF are instructed not to go out of the BoPs without permission and generally nobody is granted permission to go alone outside. The purpose of  this restriction is explained. It is not only for the security of the jawans but even of the country. The petitioner who had served form more than a decade was aware of the importance of the instructions and yet he chose to disobey the same at his peril.

Upholding ‘dismissal from service’ penalty imposed on Daya Dhar, the court observed : On the gravity of the offence, suffice it to state that entering the house of a buddy and molesting his daughter is a serious offence and one cannot say that the penalty of dismissal from service inflicted is disproportionate to the gravity of the wrong.

Read the Judgment here.