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Jabalpur Double Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside an order of a single bench, staying the order of reinstatement of a police officer after his dismissal, in a case to indecent and indecent behavior with a female employee.

A division bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sanchdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf has stayed the order of a single bench quashing the dismissal of Police Department Inspector (Radio) Rajesh Kumar Tripathi. This case pertains to the indecent and humiliating behavior meted out to a woman employee in the Dial-100 (now Dial 112) control room.

It is noteworthy that Inspector Rajesh Kumar Tripathi, who was posted in Dial-100 Control Room located in Bhopal, is accused of committing extremely indecent act with a private female call operator while working as a shift supervisor on the intervening night of 30-31 August 2025.

Order was given to smell the mouth of male employees

It is alleged that Inspector Tripathi made the female operator stand at the entrance of the dispatch hall and forced her to smell the breath of the male police officers so that the drug test could be carried out. This entire incident was captured in CCTV.

Single bench had ordered reinstatement from dismissal

In view of this shameful incident and the previous poor service record of Tripathi, the competent authority had dismissed him from service invoking Article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution. The authority was of the view that a formal departmental inquiry was not possible due to the safety of women employees and the atmosphere of fear. However, the single bench of the High Court had quashed the dismissal on 19 February 2026 on the grounds that an opportunity of being heard was not given and sufficient reasons were not given for not conducting the investigation.

The state government gave these arguments in the appeal

The single bench’s decision was challenged by the state government by filing an appeal before the division bench in which Deputy Advocate General Abhijit Awasthi argued that it was constitutionally correct to do away with the need for a departmental inquiry in view of the existence of strong evidence such as CCTV footage and the fear and hesitation of the victimized women employees to testify against the senior officer. CCTV footage was also shown to the court, with the government also arguing that strict action against such serious misconduct was necessary to maintain the discipline of the police force. Considering these arguments, the division bench has stayed the implementation of the order of the single bench.