NEW DELHI: In a rare step, a pro-liberty Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted by Rajasthan high court to two individuals — a candidate and the person who impersonated for him in an examination for selection to a govt job — terming the offence a crime that undermines public faith in the administration and the executive.
During the Assistant Engineer Civil (Autonomous Governance Department) Competitive Examination-2022, a dummy candidate, Salman Khan, took the test for the real candidate, Indraj Singh. Police registered a case against both and the trial court rejected their bail plea. However, the HC granted them bail considering that the real candidate did not get selected, both had no criminal antecedent, and the investigation had been completed.
Allowing the Rajasthan govt’s appeal, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said it is aware that once bail is granted by the high court, it is not to be ordinarily set aside. But the bail is being cancelled keeping in mind the overall impact of the alleged acts of the accused on society, the bench said.
Writing the judgement, Justice Karol said there is fierce competition among candidates to secure public employment in India. “The reality is that there are far more takers of govt jobs than there are jobs available. Be that as it may, each job which has a clearly delineated entry process — with prescribed examination and/or interview process, has only to be filled in accordance thereof,” he said.
“Absolute scrupulousness in the process being followed instils and further rejuvenates the faith of the public in the fact that those who are truly deserving of the positions, are the ones who have deservedly been installed to such positions. Each act, such as the one allegedly committed by the respondents represent possible chinks in the faith of people in the public administration and the executive,” Justice Karol said.
The bench said surely there must have been thousands of people who appeared for the exam, and the accused persons, for their own benefit, tried to compromise the sanctity of the exam, possibly affecting so many of those who would have put in earnest effort to appear in the exam with the hope of securing a job. “We concur with the view of the trial court that they are not entitled to the benefit of bail,” the bench said.
“At the same time, it is also true that every person has a presumption of innocence working in their favour till and such time the offence they are charged with, stands proved beyond reasonable doubt. Let them stand trial and let it be established by the process of law that the accused have indeed not committed any crime in law,” the SC said.