Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has discharged several individuals accused in the dummy candidate scams in Bhavnagar district from offenses under the Gujarat Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2023. The court ruled that the law cannot be applied retrospectively to alleged exam fraud committed before the Act came into force.
Court's Ruling on Retrospective Application
Quashing an order passed by a Bhavnagar sessions court that refused to discharge the accused under the Act, Justice Gita Gopi stated in the order: "An act cannot be considered a crime if it was not illegal at the time of the offence." The High Court ruled that prosecution under Sections 12(1), 12(3), and 12(4) of the 2023 Act was illegal because the examinations in question were held much before the law came into effect, as stated by petitioners' advocate Rathin Raval.
Details of the Case
In this case, an FIR was registered on April 14, 2023, at Bharatnagar police station in Bhavnagar after allegations that original candidates and dummy candidates conspired to cheat in recruitment and school examinations conducted between 2017 and 2023. The petitioners' counsel argued that the Examination Act was not in force when the exams were conducted.
Constitutional Principles Invoked
After the hearing, the High Court stated in its order: "Following the principles of fairness read with Article 20 of the Constitution of India, this court is of the view that the invocation of the Examination Act against all the present applicants is bad, illegal and violative of their fundamental rights."
The ruling upholds the constitutional safeguard against ex post facto laws, ensuring that no person can be convicted for an act that was not an offense at the time it was committed. This decision sets a significant precedent for similar cases where newly enacted laws are sought to be applied to past conduct.
