Nation should have fighting forces of upright officers, says HC

Empathy and sympathy have no place in matters of discipline in defence forces as a nation should have a fighting force of morally upright, effective and righteous officers, the Delhi High Court has said while upholding the termination of a flight cadet with the Indian Air Force for theft of Rs 5,000.

Honesty and integrity are the hallmark of armed forces and during the training period, the flight cadets are tested not only for their professional competence but also for these attributes, it said.

"...an act of theft is an indication of their moral fibre and such cadets cannot be considered suitable to be commissioned in the Forces," said a bench of justices G S Sistani and Jyoti Singh.

The court was hearing a petition by a flight cadet who was terminated by IAF in December 2016 for stealing the debit card of a colleague and withdrawing Rs 5,000 from his bank account.

He refused to accept his act initially, but later he admitted the mistake after realising that the CCTV footage would ...