Overview
- Justice Jagmohan Bansal on December 24 modified Head Constable Jagmal Singh’s penalty from forfeiture of two increments with permanent effect to forfeiture of two increments with temporary effect.
- The case arose from Laika, a Hisar CID Dog Squad canine, slipping out during a neighbourhood wedding in June 2000 and being recovered about a month later.
- A departmental inquiry did not hold Singh responsible for the escape but faulted him for not informing superiors at the earliest.
- The disciplinary authority had initially ordered forfeiture of five increments with permanent effect, which the appellate authority reduced to two increments with permanent effect before the court’s intervention.
- The court cited proportionality precedents, recorded that the kennel man in direct custody faced no action, found the earlier orders mechanical, and declined remand due to the protracted delay.