In a rare act, the Centre recently decided to withdraw the gallantry award given to a Punjab Police Sub-Inspector in 1997, following his conviction in a murder case.
Sub-Inspector Gurmeet Singh Pinky was awarded the police medal for gallantry in 1997 on the recommendation of the state government for bravery.
In its recommendation letter, the government had issued an integrity certificate. However, Pinky was booked in a 2001 murder case in which he was convicted and given life imprisonment in 2006. Subsequently, he was dismissed from service.
A Ministry of Home Affairs official said the President had on June 7 approved the proposal to withdraw the police medal, adding that the MHA had come to know about the conviction only in July, 2015.
A medal is withdrawn when an awarded person is convicted for an act or conduct involving moral turpitude, which brings the police force into disrepute or such a person is dismissed for a similar act.
