After being convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl, the former police chief of Haryana, S. P. S. Rathore, would be stripped of his police medal. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Police Awards Committee (CPAC) at the Union Home Ministry here on Monday. The meeting, headed by Union Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai, also decided that any police officer convicted of “moral turpitude” or bringing “disrepute or disrespect” to the service would be stripped of medals and awards. “The CPAC has taken two primary decisions. The committee recommended to the President for the withdrawal of police medal given to Mr. Rathore,” Mr. Pillai told reporters. Mr. Rathore was sentenced by a court in Panchkula last month to six months in jail for the molestation of the teenage girl 19 years ago. Mr. Rathore had received police medal for meritorious service in 1985.
“The committee has also taken a generic decision to authorise the Ministry of Home Affairs to recommend the withdrawal of police medal to all persons who are convicted for moral turpitude and for an act that brings disrespect to police forces, or any officer who is dismissed from the service for an act which brought disrepute to the police,” the Home Secretary said. The decision would mean that the former IPS officer, R.K. Sharma, convicted in the murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar, also stood to lose his medal. Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recommended withdrawal of the police medal of Mr. Rathore. In a letter to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Mr. Hooda said that the former DGP brought “disrepute and bad name” to the State and the police force.
“The committee has also taken a generic decision to authorise the Ministry of Home Affairs to recommend the withdrawal of police medal to all persons who are convicted for moral turpitude and for an act that brings disrespect to police forces, or any officer who is dismissed from the service for an act which brought disrepute to the police,” the Home Secretary said. The decision would mean that the former IPS officer, R.K. Sharma, convicted in the murder of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar, also stood to lose his medal. Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recommended withdrawal of the police medal of Mr. Rathore. In a letter to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Mr. Hooda said that the former DGP brought “disrepute and bad name” to the State and the police force.
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