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Indian Express
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Karnataka HC sets out guidelines for compassionate appointment, directs state to prepare standard operating procedure
The Karnataka High Court on July 25 set out guidelines for compassionate job appointments, including assistance for widows and illiterate persons, while also directing the state to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for making such appointments. A bench of Justices Mohammad Nawaz and K S Hemalekha of the high court's Kalaburagi bench stated that regardless of whether applications are in the correct format or not, the authorities have to acknowledge them in 30 days along with information on the status of the application, any issues with documentation/formatting, limitation period, and rights of other dependents. The final decision has to be rendered within 90 days with a reasoned order. The court also directed that proactive steps have to be taken to assist widows and illiterate persons. The order came in a case related to the widow of Raja Patel Banda, who was a peon at the Jewargi tahsildar's office and died while on duty in 2014. Although his widow applied for a pension, retirement benefits, and a job for one of her sons on compassionate grounds, there was no official response. Later, the state rejected an application that one of her sons submitted in October 2015 on the grounds of his having crossed the age limit. In February 2017, her younger son applied for a job on compassionate grounds. This application was rejected as, according to the regulations, any such application had to be submitted within one year of the death of the employee. The family successfully challenged the rejection before the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (Kalaburagi), after which the state approached the high court, arguing that the appointment was not a matter of right and had to follow rules concerning the time period, failing which there was a possibility of claims being put forward indefinitely. On the other hand, the opposing counsel stated that it was an exceptional case where the widow, who was illiterate, had made an application within a year of her husband's death, expressing a clear intent. It was the duty of the relevant department to have guided her regarding the technicalities, he further argued. The court agreed, stating, 'The intent was unambiguous. The authorities had the opportunity to consider and guide the family. The applications submitted by the widow ought to have been rejected or communicated to her. There was no intimation whatsoever….Had she been informed, she could have applied or rather asked her sons to make necessary applications within time.' The court dismissed the state's petition against the appointment, noting that the state has a duty to ensure procedural fairness in such cases. The court also said, 'A uniform Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and training of officials handling compassionate appointments should be made by the Government to ensure no procedural lapses.'
Time of India
16-06-2025
- Time of India
Karnataka high court upholds acquittal of ex-French diplomat of raping minor daughter
Bengaluru: The high court has upheld a trial court's decision to acquit a former French consulate official in Bengaluru, accused of sexually assaulting his minor daughter, citing that the survivor's mother was responsible for tutored testimony and inconsistent evidence. The father, who served as a consul attaché, had been accused by his Indian wife of sexually abusing their daughter on three occasions — in April 2010, May 2012, and on June 13, 2012 — when the child was just under four years old. A sessions court had acquitted him in April 2017. The child's mother had challenged the acquittal. A division bench of Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and KS Hemalekha rejected the appeal, citing multiple inconsistencies in the prosecution's case. The court found that the DNA evidence did not support the allegations: while the father's DNA was found on some items of clothing, the absence of the child's DNA on the same articles raised concerns about possible tampering to frame the accused. The bench also noted the prosecution's failure to produce the family's domestic help as a witness, despite her potential role as a key observer. This omission, the court held, weakened the prosecution's case and lent weight to the defence argument that the original acquittal had been rightly granted. S ignificant doubt was also cast on the testimony of the child who admitted that her mother had coached her and offered rewards in exchange for specific statements. The court found her recollections inconsistent, with clear memory gaps about the incidents in question, while being able to recall unrelated events. The judges concluded that the testimony lacked the reliability necessary to overturn the acquittal. Further, the court found the medical reports inconclusive. It observed that symptoms recorded—such as the presence of E. coli bacteria, erythema, pustules, itching, and pinworms—could be linked to non-sexual infections. The medical evidence, it held, did not support a case of sexual abuse. In their ruling, the judges reiterated the established Supreme Court principles that where victim testimony is inconsistent and medical evidence is not corroborative, the benefit of doubt must go to the accused. They concluded that the complaint appeared to have been structured with a motive and lacked credible evidentiary backing. Accordingly, the high court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the trial court's acquittal of the father.
