HC: Why are convicted Delhi Police officials not sacked?

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the Union Home Ministry on a service rule which allows Delhi Police personnel to continue in service even after their conviction in a heinous crime.

The rule provides for their dismissal only after disposal of their appeals.
Justice S. Muralidhar sought the reply while hearing two separate petitions by the widows, Neema Goyal and Jaspal Kaur, of two innocent persons-- Pradeep Goyal and his friend Jagjit Singh-- who were killed by a Crime Branch team led by then ACP S.S. Rathi mistakenly in Connaught Place in March 1997.
The two widows have sought compensation for the loss of income pursuant to the death of their husbands and for other expenses.
The Court has made up its mind to pay compensation to the two petitioners saying that “the State is liable to pay compensate to them for the totally unwarranted and unnecessary killing of their respective husbands”.

Another aspect on which the Court sought reply from the Ministry is the stand of the city police that there is no unanimity among senior police officers as to who would pass the necessary orders for dismissal of Rathi.
Justice Muralidhar came to know about the peculiar service rule when counsel for the police was updating him on the case.
All the 10 accused in the case have been convicted by the trial court and later the conviction was upheld by the Delhi High Court. Now their appeals are pending before the Supreme Court.
All of them except Rathi were dismissed from service in May 2010 following upholding of their conviction by the High Court in 2009. The trial court had convicted and sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2007.
After his conviction, Rathi was reverted to his earlier rank of Inspector. However, the Central Administrative Tribunal had later stayed the decision of the city police. He now stays in the city police as an Inspector.
The Court also noted that the nine convicted police personnel continued in service after their conviction by the trial court.

The Union Home Secretary would examine this position and inform this Court whether the rule is unique to Delhi or prevails elsewhere in the country, Justice Rathi said in his order.