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  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
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Moral Policing By Employers Will Not Do

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-02-21 14:34:12

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Gujarat High Court did a signal service by calling out the moral police, correctly interpreting the law and saying that its application should not be as per the biased views of society. The case in reference was about a police constable who was removed from his job for having an affair with another woman despite being married. The court said that the relevant statutory rules did not demand that the constable be removed as what he did in his personal life was not the concern of the department as long as he was not undisciplined or was not performing his duties in the prescribed manner.

It is disconcerting that authorities bring adultery and other things which are frowned upon by the self-styled guardians of society within the purview of 'misconduct'. A person who is employed in any department has a well-defined role to perform as part of his duties. Misconduct of service rules which can lead to black marks in career profile, warnings, suspensions and even dismissal can only happen if he fails to do the job expected of him (except in the armed forces where one cannot have an illicit relationship with the wife of another army man for reasons of morale, but even that is now being debated) in the prescribed manner. But his personal affairs cannot be brought under the wider and illegal meaning now being assigned to service rules by the authorities who are trying to act as moral police.

Society has to keep its prying eyes away from private affairs of ordinary citizens. As consenting adults, two persons should have the freedom of engaging in a sexual relationship without any moral strings attached even if one of them or both are married, as long as other laws are not violated. The Supreme Court has already decriminalized adultery by striking down Section 497 of the IPC. But the moral police, including employers, have taken it upon themselves to penalize persons who fail to meet the moral standards they have unilaterally set for all. The courts have not helped matters by giving conflicting decisions on such matters. Hence, the Gujarat HC order to reinstate the constable is welcome and it should be followed by all lower courts in these matters. 

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