‘Supplied ganja to prisoners’: Madras High Court backs dismissal of central jail warden

The Madras High Court has upheld the dismissal of a Grade-II prison warden accused of supplying the drug ganja to inmates and consuming alcohol at the house of a convict. The court found the petitioner's actions to be a grave breach of discipline expected from a prison officer, and dismissed his plea challenging his dismissal and departmental appeal.

During a surprise inspection, 10 grams of ganja was seized from a prisoner, who claimed he received it from the warden while on duty at the bakery unit. The warden admitted to visiting the convict's house while he was on escort parole and consuming alcohol there, receiving Rs 5,000 from a friend of the convict. The court noted that maintaining familiarity with prisoners and having correspondence with their friends is prohibited under the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules.

Despite the petitioner's arguments that the accuser's statement was not examined during the departmental inquiry and no CCTV footage was presented, the court upheld the punishment as proportionate. The high court ruled that the petitioner, as a prison officer, had a duty to prevent the introduction of contraband into the prison, which he failed to do. The court dismissed the writ petition, citing the limited scope of judicial review in departmental proceedings and the serious nature of the charges.