An incident at a party at the residence of a senior Indian Administrative Service officer of Punjab, 18 years ago, continues to haunt retired Indian Police Service official K P S Gill, who as Punjab police chief was credited with having wiped out terrorism from Punjab in the eighties.
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, upheld the conviction of the former Punjab director general of police and president of the Indian Hockey Federation on the charge of outraging the modesty of senior women IAS officer Rupan Deol Bajaj, at present, posted as Financial Commissioner (Revenue).
Talking to PTI at Chandigarh, Bajaj said she was relieved and happy at the verdict. "The incident was shocking as I felt that this could not have happened to me because of the position that I was in," she added.
She said when the incident took place she was shaken that people holding such important positions could behave in such a manner. "I am happy that the Supreme Court has upheld his conviction which was earlier pronounced by the trial court and upheld by the sessions and the high court," she said.
The High Court on August 21, 1998, upheld the conviction of Gill, for outraging the modesty of Bajaj.
Justice R L Anand, who handed down the order, however, modified the lower court judgment releasing Gill on probation for three years under the supervision of a probation officer.
The judge reduced the period of probation from three years to one year and that too without the supervision of the probation officer.
Justice Anand upheld that a sum of Rs 25,000 was to be paid to the Chandigarh administration and the remaining Rs 25,000 to B R Bajaj, Rupan Deol's husband who is also a senior IAS officer in Punjab.
The judge, however, set aside the cost of Rs 25,000 that was to be paid to Bajaj.