Madras High Court Orders Police Discipline, Citing Officer's Intoxicated Court Appearance

The Madras High Court has issued a directive to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, mandating that all police personnel appearing before courts must adhere to strict standards of dress and conduct. This order comes in response to an incident where a police officer allegedly appeared in court in an intoxicated state while serving as a prosecution witness.

The division bench, comprising justices S M Subramaniam and N Senthilkumar, emphasized the need for "absolute integrity, discipline and devotion to duty" among law enforcement officers presenting themselves in judicial proceedings. The court's judgment on July 14 also stipulates that presiding judicial officers must report any instances of police personnel, medical officers, or other government officials appearing in a disorderly manner. Such reports should trigger disciplinary proceedings against the offending individuals.

"Such indifferent attitude of attending Court in a drunken state has to be viewed seriously," the court stated, adding that such misconduct "will ruin the entire police force." The bench highlighted that departmental actions are based on the "preponderance of probability" and that the officer's actions had severely degraded the image of the police within the courtroom. The court stressed that such misconduct must be curbed to protect the reputation of the entire police force.

The directives were issued while deciding an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government against a single judge's order that had previously overturned disciplinary action against a police constable, V. Arumugam. Arumugam had been punished for his conduct while testifying as an official witness in 2014. A judicial magistrate observed signs of intoxication, including the smell of alcohol and incoherent speech, leading to a medical examination and a "drunkenness certificate." Arumugam initially faced compulsory retirement, later commuted to a stoppage of annual increments for three years. The single judge had quashed the disciplinary proceedings in 2020, but the division bench has now set aside that order, deeming Arumugam's conduct serious misconduct that undermined court dignity and the police image.

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Such indifferent attitude of attending Court in a drunken state has to be viewed seriously. Departmental action is purely based on preponderance of probability and his act had totally degraded the image of police force in the Court hall and it has to be curbed, otherwise, the misconduct committed by the respondent will ruin the entire police force.