Delhi Court Reserves Judgment On IAS Trainee Puja Khedkar's Anticipatory Bail Plea, Order Likely Tomorrow

Nupur Thapliyal, Live Law, 31 July 2024 : A Delhi Court on Wednesday reserved order on the anticipatory bail plea moved by probationer Puja Khedkar accused of “misrepresenting and falsifying facts" in her application for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination, 2022.

Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Courts is likely to pronounce its verdict tomorrow, at 4 PM.

Khedkar was represented by Advocate Bina Madhavan. SPP Atul Srivastava appeared for the State. UPSC was represented by Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik.

Madhavan prayed for anticipatory bail and stay on the arrest citing imminent threat of arrest due to criminal prosecution. She said as soon as the UPSC lodged the FIR, media has been going around and doing witch hunt against Khedkar.

“I haven't gone to media at all. Because I have faith in the system and courts,” she said.

She contended that Khedkar, in good faith, mentioned the number of attempts as 5 in place of 12 and thus, there can be no misrepresentation. She said that Khedkar's disability certificate showed her to be a candidate with 47% of benchmark disabilities which was issued by a medical board of AIIMS.

“Where is the fraud? The provisions put against me are not applicable,” she said.

It was also contended that action can be initiated against Khelkar only after she is held guilty by UPSC, calling the criminal prosecution and registration of FIR at this stage as premature.

“The very next day (of issuance of show cause notice) they filed the FIR. Can they now say I am required for custodial interrogation? What do I do? Why is the authority so quick in lodging criminal prosecution? I should be given ample opportunity to defend my case as to why I wrote that,” Madhavan said.

She further said that the criminal prosecution has been initiated against Khelkar because she lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against a Collector who called her in his office to which she refused.

“In this country anyone can change the name. Every time questions were asked, she gave answers. To say she falsified documents is incorrect. I am pressing that I need to answer show cause, I need to defend and I need anticipatory bail. The prosecutor's reply says custodial interrogation. This puts my apprehension on record that they'll arrest her. I am a victim of witch-hunt,” she said.

SPP Atul Srivastava appearing for Delhi Police submitted that the offence of cheating cannot take place unless someone is duped and that in this case, UPSC has been duped by Khedkar.

“Number of attempts are nine. You have availed it but very cunningly, she changed her name. Intentionally she has changed her name.… After availing nine attempts which you were permitted... Golden principle of law is that person is not entitled to any relief if someone doesn't come with clean hands. I ask myself, Is it not a serious concealment of fact?,” he said.

The prosecutor further said that it is well settled that mere filing of complaint is not launching of prosecution.

On court's query as to why Khedkar's custodial interrogation was required, the prosecutor responded:

”Ye medical me nahi gayi. For declaration kiya no vision. Mental illness khatam ho gayi. When it was found she has been disqualified then all of this is uploaded. If she is not qualified, her rank is 800 something..... You have duped all this and then you got IAS which you were not entitled.”

He further said that the investigation is at a nascent stage and various documents, including Khedkar's medical documents, have to be probed.

UPSC's counsel, Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik told court that Khedkar's admission that she did not disclose about her earlier attempts was an admission of guilt.

“She is depriving legitimate candidates from getting employment. Such action by intelligent persons of using their intelligence... She has not disclosed she challenged the Rules which was not met with any success….With full knowledge and intelligence she is aware that she is committing cheating and falsehood,” he said.

The senior counsel also said that integrity of examination system has been breached by Khedkar in complete defiance of the UPSC Rules.

“She says I changed my name. And it can be done. In my submission, this is a clear mens rea mentality. How do you change spellings of your name? Also, not only she changed her name, she is not entitled to change names of her parents….She has done immense harm to the legitimate expectations and rights of genuine persons. I am not going to the press reports about her parents. These kind of persons who cheat the system, action needs to be taken against them.”

He added: “Process of investigation has to start on the basis of interrogation. Prima facie documentary evidence is available.... In my submission everyone knows this person has abused the law. As a result, chances of her abusing law further is possible. Such persons who are well resourceful, don't deserve the benefit of anticipatory bail.”

Khedkar joined the Pune Collectorate as part of her probationary training in June. The allegation against her is that she “misused” quotas under Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons With Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) to clear the CSE.

An FIR was registered against Khedkar by UPSC in the matter. A show cause notice was also issued to her on cancellation of her selection. She has also been barred from future examinations.

As per a public statement given by UPSC, a detailed and thorough investigation into the “misdemeanour” of Khedkar, revealed that she “fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit” under the Examination Rules by “faking her identity” by changing her name.

The statement also said that Khedkar changed the names of her father and mother as well as her photograph, signature, email address, mobile number and address.