Indian Military

NEW DELHI: Observing that the offence was too serious to be ignored, the Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of an Indian Air Force employee charged with attempting to have sex with a minor boy.
"The appellant belongs to Air Force, which is a disciplined service. The allegations made against the appellant were serious. The charge number (2) against him stood proved. The said charge is also serious and we are of the considered opinion that for an offence of the aforesaid nature, the authority was justified in awarding him the punishment of dismissal from service," the apex court said in a judgement.
A bench of justices Mukundakam Sharma and A R Dave passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal filed by Ram Narayan Tiwari serving as a corporal with IAF in Uttar Pradesh.
The judgement assumes significance as the Supreme Court is seized of a appeals and cross-appeals on the Delhi high court ruling which had held that gay or unnatural sex as defined under Section 377 IPC was not a criminal offence.

Tiwari, while serving in IAF's police wing, was served with a chargesheet dated March 20,1980, containing three charges: committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature with Sanjay Kumar minor on 15.03.1980, consumed 'ganja' while on duty on the same date and leaving his place of duty for half an hour when the room remained unattended.
Though the authorities dropped the second and third charge in the amended chargesheet, they added another charge of carnal sex with the boy aged about 9.
"By commuting the punishment of three months detention and imposing the punishment of dismissal, the confirming authority has strictly followed the scale of punishment provided for in Section 73 of the Act and, therefore, there is no justification for any interference with the nature of punishment awarded to the appellant," Justice Sharma writing the judgement said.
The district court upheld the charge against Tiwari for the offence alleged against the minor boy and awarded him three months detention.
The confirming authority on an appeal while upholding the conviction altered the punishment to dismissal from service.
Aggrieved, Tiwari, citing the Air Force rules, claimed the confirming authority cannot enhance the punishment by way of dismissal. The Allahabad High Court had rejected his plea, following which he appealed in the apex court.
Dismissing the appeal the apex court said, the confirming authority had rightly awarded dismissal of service to Tiwari.
Interpreting Section 157 of the Air Force Act, the apex court said the confirming authority could mitigate, remit or commute the sentence but could not enhance the punishment.
"The confirming authority has commuted the punishment of three months detention and imposed the punishment of dismissal and, since, the punishment itself is of dismissal from service, there is no question of his reduction to the ranks at all," the bench said in its judgement.