TMI Blog1973 (4) TMI 115X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lege. There was another Hostel for girl students. On the night between 10th and 11th June, 1972 some male students of the college were found sitting on the compound wall of the girls Hostel. Later they entered into the compound and were seen walking without clothes of them. They went near the windows of the rooms of some of the girls and tried to pull the hand of one of the girls. Some five of these boys then climbed up along the drain pipes to the terrace of the girls Hostel where a lew girls were doing their studies. On seeing them the girls raised an alarm following which the students ran away, The girls recognized four out of these male students-three of them being the present appellants and the fourth being one Upendra Prasad Singh. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ally denied having trespassed into the girls Hostel or having misbehaved with them as alleged. They added that they were in their own Hostel at that time. 4. It appears that before the students had been called in the afternoon, the Enquiry Committee had called 10 girls of the Hostel who were party to the complaint and their statements in writing had been recorded. The Enquiry Committee also found that though there were many more students the girls could identify only these four students by name, The girls belonged to the same college and hence they had known these students. The statements of the girls had not been recorded in the presence of the appellants as it was thought it was unwise to do so. 5. After making the necessary enquiry ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve evidence against them were not examined in their presence, there was no opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses with a view to test their veracity, that the Committee's report was not made available to them and for all these reasons the enquiry was vitiated and the order passed by the Principal acting on the report was illegal. The High Court held that rules of natural justice were not inflexible and that in the circumstances and the facts of the case, the requirements of natural justice had been satisfied. The petition was, therefore, dismissed. 6-A. The appeal to this Court is sought to be supported on the very grounds which did not find support with the High Court. 7. The High Court was plainly right in holding that princ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... harm to their reputation would not have cooperated with the police. Nor was an enquiry, as before a regular tribunal, feasible because the girls would not have ventured to make their statements in the presence of the miscreants because if they did, they would have most certainly exposed themselves to retaliation and harassment thereafter. The college authorities are in no position to protect the girl students outside the college precincts. Therefore, the authorities had to devise a just and reasonable plan of enquiry which, on the one hand, would not expose the individual girls to harassment by the male students and, on the other, secure reasonable opportunity to the accused to state their case. 9. Accordingly, an Enquiry Committee of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appellants say, they were in their own Hostel at the time it would not have been difficult for them to produce necessary evidence apart from saying that they were innocent and they had not gone to the girls Hostel at all late at night. There was no evidence in that behalf. The Committee on a careful consideration of the material before them came to the conclusion that the three appellants and Upendra had taken part in the night raid on the girls Hostel. The report was confidentially sent to the Principal. The very reasons for which the girls were not examined in the presence of the appellants, prevailed on the authorities not to give a copy of the report to them. It would have been unwise to do so. Taking all the circumstances into accou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iety Ltd. 1958 2 All ER 579 Harman, J. observed what, then, are the requirements of natural justice in a case of this kind? First, I think that the person accused should know the nature of the accusation made; secondly that he should be given an opportunity to state his case; and thirdly, of course, that the tribunal should act in good faith. I do not think that there really is anything more . 11. Rules of natural justice cannot remain the same applying to all conditions. We know of statutes in India like the Goonda Acts which permit evidence being collected behind the back of the goonda and the goonda being merely asked to represent against the main charges arising out of the evidence collected. Care is taken to see that the witnesses ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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