Delhi HC judge’s novel way of punishment – Do community service at hospitals

Accused seeking quashing of FIR asked to do community service

New Delhi, Jan. 26 (Delhi Crown): Justice Subramonium Prasad of the Delhi High Court has a novel way of punishing those accused who arrived at a compromise with their complainant and persuaded them to quash the FIR against them.

Justice Prasad ordered the accused to perform community service at hospitals over the weekends for a month.

In as many as three judgements in recent days, Justice Prasad wrote similar orders directing the accused to perform community service in various hospitals in the national capital.

As per the orders, the accused persons were directed to report to the Medical Superintendent (MS) of a particular hospital, perform the community service and finally obtain a certificate from the MS of the concerned hospital on completion of one month to show compliance of the court order.

A couple of days ago, the HC judge asked a man to do community service on weekends for a month at the LNJP Hospital, and imposed a cost of ₹35,000, as the condition for quashing an FIR registered against him for groping a woman and outraging her modesty.

The man had earlier reached an amicable settlement with the accused and subsequently moved the court to quash the FIR.

The FIR claimed that the accused allegedly groped and forcefully kissed his tenant when she went to the bathroom on July 26, 2016. The complainant said she didn’t make any noise due to fear and went to her room.

The woman claimed that on July 28, 2016, the accused again allegedly misbehaved with her and tried to outrage her modesty, following which she approached the Gandhi Nagar police station.

Subsequently, in April 2019 both the parties made an amicable settlement and moved the court seeking quashing of the FIR. On January 20 this year, the complainant told the court that the accused has sought for her forgiveness. She said she has forgiven him for his misdeeds and does not intend to proceed with the matter any further.

Noting the submission, Justice Prasad quashed the FIR, directing the man to do some community service “to atone for his sins” and also warned not to repeat such actions in the future.

“Accordingly, the petitioner is directed to do community service at LNJP Hospital on every Saturday and Sunday for one month i.e. from February 1, 2022 to March 2, 2022. He shall report to the Medical Superintendent, LNJP Hospital on February 1, 2022,” the court noted in its order.

The court asked the accused to file a certificate from the medical superintendent of Lok Nayak hospital after completion of one month to show compliance of the order.

“In case of any absenteeism/default or any misbehaviour on the part of the petitioner, the same shall be conveyed immediately by the Medical Superintendent, LNJP, to the concerned SHO, who shall in turn inform the counsel for the State, for bringing the same to the notice of the court and for seeking recall of the orders passed today (January 20),” the judge added.

Meanwhile, on January 3 the same judge directed two persons to do community service on weekends at the Safdarjung hospital and the GTB Hospital for a month in exchange of quashing an FIR where they had beaten people with wooden rods in the Punjabi Bagh area in 2016.

The judge directed the accused to do social service “so that they can understand the pain and suffering of an injured victim and hope that they will not indulge in such activities in future”.