In Brief
The State of Rajasthan sought to disqualify a candidate from police recruitment on grounds that, though acquitted in a serious criminal case involving fatal injuries and assault, his acquittal was based merely on benefit of doubt—not a clean acquittal. The Supreme Court held that an acquittal in serious criminal cases based on benefit of doubt (where witnesses turned hostile and some offences were compromised) does not qualify a candidate for police service. Even though a 2017 government circular stated that benefit-of-doubt acquittals would not disqualify candidates, the Court ruled that the circular must conform to established judicial principle: police recruitment requires clean antecedents, and benefit of doubt acquittals in serious cases do not satisfy that requirement. The State's disqualification order was upheld."
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