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Mohammed Imran v. The State of Maharashtra

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 961Decided 12 Oct 2018
Civil Appeal No. 10571 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

The appellant cleared a competitive examination and was recommended for appointment to the judicial service in Maharashtra, having truthfully disclosed in his attestation form that he had once been prosecuted (and later acquitted in 2004) for allegedly being involved in the abduction of a girl, well before his selection. Despite the disclosure and acquittal, his selection was cancelled in 2010 following an adverse police character-verification report, and the High Court declined to interfere. He argued this was arbitrary, especially since another candidate who had also been prosecuted and acquitted of a different offence had been appointed without issue.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that while higher standards of conduct can rightly be expected of judicial service aspirants, "moral turpitude" cannot be invoked mechanically to deny appointment: the full facts of each case matter, and a candidate should not be eternally shackled by a past incident, especially one resulting in acquittal. The Court called for and reviewed a fresh confidential character report, which showed the appellant otherwise had a clean record with no adverse material beyond the one acquitted case. Finding the rejection of his candidature "afflicted by a myopic vision" overly fixated on the moral-turpitude label without proper appreciation of the full facts, and noting the inconsistent treatment compared to the other acquitted candidate who was appointed, the Court set aside both the cancellation order and the High Court's refusal to intervene, and directed the authorities to reconsider his candidature afresh within eight weeks.

Lesson Learnt

A past criminal prosecution that ended in acquittal cannot automatically or mechanically be used to permanently brand a candidate as unfit for government or judicial service: authorities must genuinely weigh the full facts and treat similarly-situated candidates consistently, not apply labels like "moral turpitude" rhetorically.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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