High court quashes 17-Year-Old recruitment manipulation case against Meghalaya minister

Shillong: The High Court of Meghalaya on Thursday quashed a 17-year-old case against Mazeal Ampareen Lyngdoh, a former education minister and current cabinet minister, along with two other officials.

The case, dating back to 2008, involved allegations of manipulation in the recruitment process for assistant teachers in lower primary schools.The other accused in the case were JD Sangma, who served as the director of the directorate of elementary and mass education at the time, and Ameka I Lyngdoh, the then deputy director of the same directorate. The trio faced accusations of conspiring to alter score sheets and other results to favor certain candidates, thereby sidelining many eligible and successful applicants.Specifically, Lyngdoh was accused of leveraging her ministerial influence to direct officers to alter marks through slips provided during the tabulation process. However, the HC’s decision to quash the case brings an end to the long-standing legal proceedings against the minister and the two officials.“No document showing interpolation or any application of white ink for erasing the marks are on record. There is no further evidence to link those slips with the charge of manipulation of results,” the HC said.

“In this case, the prosecution has failed to establish even a prima facie case from where a reasonable suspicion may arise in the prosecutor or the court of interpolation of the score sheets by the accused or any of them. The case or charges against each of them falls to the ground,” the HC observed.The single HC bench, comprising Chief Justice IP Mukherji pointed out that the selection process was of 2008 and that about 17 years have rolled by.“The first FIR was lodged on 18th July, 2011. Nothing has moved significantly in prosecuting the accused. Such enormous delay in prosecuting a criminal case is also against the fundamental rights of the accused under Articles 21, 19 and 14 to lead a peaceful life free of mental anxiety caused by pendency of a criminal proceeding,” the HC underscored.“Therefore, exercising power under Section 227 of the Code read with Section 482, especially the part which deals with the power of the court to prevent abuse of the process of any court or to secure the ends of justice, I set aside the impugned order dated 23rd August, 2022 passed in Special (CBI) Case No. 2 of 2020 by the learned Special Judge (CBI), East Khasi Hills district, Shillong. The charges against the accused A1, A2 and A3 are quashed.

The entire criminal proceedings are hereby quashed. Each of the accused 1, 2 and 3 are hereby discharged,” Chief Justice Mukherji pronounced.