Meeting foreigner can't result in dismissal from armed forces: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said an armed forces officer sending explicit messages to the wife of a brother officer and also meeting the foreigner wife of one of his friends were not grounds for dismissal from service.

"Inviting her (foreign national) for breakfast with her husband, would it be misconduct? Merely because he did not report the meeting (over breakfast), could it be a case of dismissal," asked the bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice Arun Mishra.

Dismissing the plea by the central government against naval officer N. Kalyan Kumar whose reinstatement in service was ordered by the Armed Forces Tribunal on June 25, 2014, the apex court noted that neither the brother officer nor his wife ever complained about the explicit messages sent to her by Kumar.

Kumar was commander when he was sacked from the navy on May 7, 2013.

While discharging him from service, the government said it had sufficient material that he indulged in a promiscuous and extra-marital relationship that was unbecoming of an officer and maintained unauthorised contact with foreign nationals.

"Exchange of explicit photos, email massages is between two individuals. If the lady had complained, we can understand. Nor anyone else has complained. How such conduct would affects internal security," Chief Justice Dattu asked, brushing aside the contentions by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.

Rohatgi told the court that "there was no compliant from the husband about explicit messages being sent to his wife (by Kumar). They came to know about it from intelligence sources".

He said that in the "armed forces highest standards of morality have to be maintained".

The court then further asked: "Mixing with foreign national, will it amount to serious misconduct affecting national interest? One can understand if your charge says that he was passing sensitive material to that lady. That is not your allegation. Then how could it be detrimental to national security?

"Can you say that though she was married to an Indian, don't bring your wife (for breakfast) because she is a foreign national? Though she is a foreign national, she continues to be a part of the Indian system (being a wife of an Indian). Maybe she has a white skin," the court observed, while declining the government's plea against the AFT order of reinstatement of Kalyan Kumar.

"Merely because she ate dosa in his house (over breakfast), can you dismiss him from service? Being a high-ranking officer meeting a foreign national is not a taboo," the court said.

"In a society where we respect freedom, can we say that he should not meet a lady with foreign nationality? Is it such a big sin that you throw him out of service," the court said, dismissing the Centre's plea and saying that the AFT was justified in its order directing reinstatement of Kumar.

The foreign national is the wife of a co-instructor of a yoga class run by Kalyan Kumar's wife.