1. Who filed the case against whom?
Shatrughn Yadav (employee) filed the case against Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (employer) because the company terminated his employment.
2. What happened?
Shatrughn was appointed as a Technician.
When he joined the company, he filled a form saying that no criminal case was pending against him. Later, the company found that an NCR had been registered against him in 2019 under Sections 323 and 504 IPC. So, the company believed that he had hidden the criminal case and terminated him.
3. What did Shatrughn say?
He said:
He did not know about the NCR.
He was never arrested.
He never received any summons.
Police never called or questioned him.
He also produced a police certificate supporting his position.
Later, the police investigation found no evidence against him, and his name was removed from the list of accused.
4. What did the High Court say?
The High Court did not accept his case and upheld the termination.
So, he went to the Supreme Court.
5. What did the Supreme Court decide?
The Supreme Court said:
A person cannot be accused of hiding a fact which he did not know about.
Since Shatrughn had genuinely shown that he did not know about the NCR, there was no deliberate suppression or false information from his side.
The Court also said that an employer cannot simply say:
Criminal case exists, therefore terminate the employee.
The employer must examine:
Whether the employee actually knew about the case;
Nature and seriousness of the offence;
Nature of the employee's job;
Whether the criminal case was ultimately proved or not;
Whether termination is actually necessary.
7. Final Decision
The Supreme Court cancelled the termination and ordered the company to reinstate Shatrughn Yadav. He was also given 50% back wages for the period he was out of employment.
⭐ Simple Learning
If an employee genuinely does not know about a criminal case, he cannot be treated as having deliberately hidden it. The employer must properly examine all the facts before terminating him.