“Age Won’t Help”: Court Rules Ex-Cop Must Be Punished For 1984 Riots.

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted authority to the competent authority to issue an “appropriate order of punishment” to a retired city police officer who allegedly failed to deploy adequate force, make preventive detentions, and take action to break up mobs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, observing that the “nation was still bleeding” years later.

While overturning the orders of the disciplinary authority and the Central Administrative Tribunal against the then-station house officer of Kingsway Camp police station, the bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma stated that innocent lives were lost in the riots and that the police officer “cannot get away” due to his advanced age of 79 years.

“He could be 100 years old (years old). Please review the misconduct. Innocent people were killed. The country is still in pain. You can’t get away on that ground. Age is no help, “declared the bench, which also included Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The disciplinary authorities found him guilty of wrongdoing during the anti-Sikh riots without suggesting any remedial punishment.

He had contested the order before the CAT, but it was dismissed, so he appealed to the high court.

The petitioner challenged the orders before the high court, claiming that he was merely given a “post-decisional hearing” in the case. A post-decisional hearing is a hearing held by the adjudicating authority after a decision or choice has been made.

Setting aside the orders, the court stated that the petitioner’s charges were significant and granted the disciplinary authority the ability to issue a “new note of disagreement” and requested the petitioner to answer within four weeks.