Calcutta, Feb. 21: Calcutta High Court today said what a government employee does after work is his personal business, ordering the reinstatement of a peon forced to retire for allegedly watching blue films at home.

Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya also directed the state judicial department to give Mentu Sheikh his salary arrears since 1992, the year he was told to take compulsory retirement from the Midnapore district judge’s court.

The judge said Sheikh could not be penalised as “his offence, if any, had been committed after office hours”.

Appearing for the state, advocate Gouri Mukherjee argued that Sheikh had violated Rule 8 of the Bengal Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules.

But Bhattacharya said the case would not come under the purview of the rules as neither Sheikh’s neighbours nor police had lodged any complaint against him.