The Gujarat high court has thrown out key charges against two men arrested for cheating in a public services recruitment exam in 2018, ruling that the police applied the wrong legal provisions but allowed the police to proceed against the two under the applicable provisions.
The case relates to an FIR registered at Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar on November 26, 2018. (UNSPLASH)
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The initial first information report (FIR) booked the two bothers, Hardik and Rahul Purohit, under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and Section 66-E of the Information Technology Act, which prescribes a maximum punishment of three years for capturing and sending image of a private area of any person.
In his June 16 verdict, justice PM Raval said neither of the two provisions were applicable and set them aside. The judge, however, underlined that the verdict did not cancel the FIR registered for cheating in the exam conducted by the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) and the police could charge with with any other offence that the investigating officer considers applicable.
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The case relates to an FIR registered at Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar on November 26, 2018.
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The case relates to an FIR registered at Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar on November 26, 2018.
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According to the prosecution, invigilators informed the examination supervisor that Hardik Purohit was using a mobile phone inside the examination hall. The candidate was accused of photographing the GPSC question paper and sending the images through WhatsApp to his brother Rahul Purohit.
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.
