RAJ VEER SINGH Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A programme based on a sting operation conducted upon the petitioner and other employees of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Agra1, was telecast on 9 Aug. 2007 on the news channel Star News under the caption "Kanoon Ke Killer". The petitioner, who was holding the post of Deputy Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Agra at the relevant time, was shown demanding illegal gratification for giving a favourable forensic report.

(2.) On 18 Sept. 2007, the petitioner was placed under suspension, pending disciplinary enquiry into the incident. It was followed by a charge sheet dated 3 Dec. 2007. It is stated in the charge sheet that in a preliminary enquiry conducted by Superintendent of Police (Technical Services), U.P. Lucknow and Director, Forensic Laboratory, U.P. Lucknow, the petitioner was found, prima facie, involved in corruption. It further contains a recital that the act and conduct of the petitioner, as portrayed in the programme aired on the T.V. Channel on 9 Aug. 2007, was objectionable and unbecoming of the post held by him. It has resulted in lowering the image of the 1 FSL, Agra Department and causing irreparable injury to it.

(3.) The petitioner contested the proceedings, emphatically denying having asked any illegal gratification. He took a specific plea that the programme, as aired, wrongly portrayed him demanding bribe, though he never asked for it. In fact, he emphatically rejected the offer when made to him. The entire episode was stage-managed by one of his colleagues Santosh Kumar Kuril, Senior Scientific Assistant, against whom the petitioner had been a witness in a criminal case. The reporters of the news channel, who carried out the sting operation, had continuously been in touch with him, as is evident from the CDR. The entire programme aired on the channel was based on doctored and manipulated video footages. The alleged original footage handed over by the news channel to the Department, the investigating agencies and the petitioner, had been fabricated and morphed, the relevant parts of the conversation had been omitted or the seriatum changed. The original memory card, in which the recording was done, had not been produced. The transcript of the Programme was prepared by omitting relevant portions of the conversation, by morphing the faces, by changing the contexts, only to enhance the TRP of the Programme. Totally false aspersions have been cast on the petitioner, who has to his credit an unblemished service record.