Delhi High Court paves way for appointment of national level shooter as judicial officer

The Delhi High Court recently set aside the cancellation of the candidature and recommendation for the appointment of Disha Langan, a national-level shooter, to the Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) [Disha Langan v Delhi High Court]..Langan, who is also a member of the National Rifle Association of India, became a lawyer in 2019 and succeeded in the Delhi Judicial Service Examination earlier this year..However, a recommendation to appoint Langan to the judicial services was cancelled by the High Court administration in July 2023 on the ground that she had concealed information about a pending criminal case against her in her exam application form.After Langan challenged the cancellation of her candidature, a division bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan considered her defence that the information required to be filled in the application form was not free from ambiguity.The query in the application form asked, “Have you ever been arrested, prosecuted, kept under detention or bound / convicted by a court of Law for any offence?”Langan had responded in the negative. However, a criminal complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against her was pending at the time before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court. .She argued that the query was ambiguous and could be interpreted in more than one way. .The Court if there was any ambiguity in the query, the benefit of doubt must be extended to the petitioner. Looking into whether there was any ambiguity in the query, the Court said the Supreme Court’s decision in Daya Shankar Yadav v. Union of India & Ors squarely covers the controversy..In Daya Shankar Yadav case, the applicant had responded in the negative to similar queries. The Supreme Court accepted the applicant's contention that the English queries were confusing and held the question was capable of being interpreted in more than one way.All the same, the Supreme Court did not grant the applicant relief on finding that the Hindi version of the same queries was not ambiguous, and since the applicant had responded in Hindi. In Langan's case, however, the High Court found that the query in focus was capable of being misunderstood.“The contention that the petitioner had understood the correct answer to the query to be in the affirmative, only if she was arrested and detained, cannot be rejected,” the division bench said..The Court also found another reason to accept the petitioner’s confusion over the query.It noted that in the attestation form filed by her later, she clearly disclosed the criminal case pending against her as well as the petition filed by her for quashing the case.Further, the Court was told that another candidate with a pending criminal case had also responded to the query in negative, but no action was taken against him. This aspect was also confirmed by the High Court's counsel..Thus, the bench also found merit in Langan's contention that the High Court could not adopt a pick-and-choose policy in such matters and proceeded to grant her relief. ."However, in view of our conclusion that the query itself is capable of more than one interpretation, it is not necessary to examine whether the petitioner can derive any benefit from DHC not proceeding against ME [another candidate],” it added.Accordingly, the Court allowed Langan’s petition. .Notably, the case against Langan had been quashed in August this year. The case concerned allegations that Langan's licence had been misused by her father for importing firearms, which led to the filing of a criminal complaint by the DRI under the Customs Act.Quashing the case against Disha Langan, the High Court in August said she ought not to be punished for the alleged acts of her father."The overall facts hereinabove lead to the conclusion that the petitioner is being wrongly prosecuted for the alleged offences committed by her father, only on the pretext that her father was in possession of her License at the time of seizure and had allegedly utilized the same for procuring arms, without any specific allegation(s) against her," the Court found then.Langan completed her law degree from National Law University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat in 2019 and then enrolled as an advocate. She cleared the All India Bar Examination in 2021..Advocates Anjali Jha Manish, Priyadarshi Manish & Divya Rastogi represented the Langan.Advocates Dr Amit George, Rayadurgam Bharat, Arkaneil Bhaumik, Piyo Harold and Adhishwar Suri, represented the High Court..[Read Judgment]