The Bombay High Court upheld a penalty against a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer who sought to have a late-night encounter with a woman to borrow lemons, declining to dismiss the punishment.

Justices Nitin Jamdar and MM Sathaye, comprising the division bench of the high court, presided over a plea challenging the disciplinary action taken by the officer's superior between July 2021 and June 2022. This action resulted in the imposition of a penalty for the officer's misconduct. The officer's superior reduced his salary for a period of three years and suspended any potential increments during this time as well.

The officer received the penalty following an investigation that revealed he had consumed alcohol before the incident. Additionally, it was discovered that he was aware the woman's husband, who happened to be a colleague of the officer, was away on election duty in West Bengal at the time.

During the nights of April 19 and April 20, 2021, the CISF officer, who resided in the same official headquarters as the woman, knocked on her door.

The woman, accompanied by her 6-year-old child, became fearful when the CISF officer knocked on her door and requested that he leave, expressing concern over her husband's absence. Following this, the officer departed from the premises. In his plea, the CISF officer argued that he had knocked on the woman's door due to a medical emergency, seeking lemons. However, the division bench, in its ruling, dismissed the officer's explanation as implausible, stating that requesting lemons under the guise of a medical emergency was not a believable justification.

“Knocking on neighbour's door knowing that the man in the house is absent, and the house was occupied by a lady with her six-year-old daughter and that too for a frivolous reason of getting a lemon for so called medical emergency of stomach upset, is preposterous to say the least,” the court said.

The bench further noted that such behavior is undoubtedly unbecoming of a CISF officer, and the officer's intentions were not deemed as genuine and clear as claimed.

Therefore, the high court dismissed the plea of the CISF officer.

Case title: Arvind Kumar vs Smt  Laxmi Sanjay Nikam & Ors