Karnataka High Court Refuses to Quash Assault Case Against Former SP Who Hurled Paperweight at Subordinate

The Karnataka High Court has drawn a clear distinction between official administrative discipline and physical violence, refusing to quash criminal proceedings against a former Superintendent of Police (SP) accused of assaulting a subordinate officer with a paperweight. Justice Ravi V. Hosmani delivered the order while hearing petitions filed by two senior police officers seeking to quash proceedings pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Chikkamagaluru. The case arose from an incident in 2012 where a Police Sub-Inspector was allegedly reprimanded for missing an official sports meet due to ill health. The complainant alleged that the then Circle Inspector verbally abused and threatened him before escorting him to the SP's office. Inside the office, the then SP allegedly hurled a heavy paperweight at the Sub-Inspector, striking his right eyebrow and causing a bleeding injury. While the High Court quashed charges against the Circle Inspector, reasoning that his verbal reprimands were linked to enforcing discipline in a uniformed service and thus required prior government sanction for prosecution, it refused relief to the former SP. The court emphasized that throwing an object and inflicting physical injury cannot be justified as an official act, ruling that acts of physical violence carry no nexus with official duty.