The Supreme Court has acquitted a Patwari, since deceased, in a Prevention of Corruption Act bribe-trap case, holding that proof of both the demand and the acceptance of illegal gratification is a sine qua non for conviction under Sections 7 and 13 of the Act. With the complainant having died before deposing and the shadow witness turning hostile, no witness saw the demand or the handing-over of the money, and the recovery of tainted currency alone could not sustain the conviction.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a State appeal against the acquittal of a Patwari in a 1996 bribery-trap case, holding that the recovery of tainted currency is not, by itself, proof of guilt under the Prevention of Corruption Act. A demand for gratification, and not a mere demand for money, must be proved beyond reasonable doubt before the statutory presumption under Section 20 can be invoked. Finding the evidence pointed as plausibly to a demand for government dues, and the acquittal not perverse, the Court affirmed it.
A railway parcel clerk caught in a 1995 trap accepting a Rs 100 bribe to book a motorcycle, and convicted in 2004, has had his conviction upheld by the Jharkhand High Court, which found the demand and acceptance of illegal gratification proved on the Neeraj Dutta standard. But given that the case had run for three decades, the appellant is now over 75 and ailing, it was his first offence and he had already lost his job, the Court reduced his sentence to the statutory minimum.
The Karnataka High Court has dismissed as infructuous the anticipatory bail plea of an advocate accused in a ‘cash-for-bail’ case, after her counsel informed the Court that she had already been arrested. Days earlier, the Court had indicated it would not grant her anticipatory bail, observing that custodial interrogation was necessary. The allegation is that she sought money purportedly to bribe a High Court judge to secure a litigant’s son’s release. The allegations are untested.
Acquitting a former Railway Protection Force officer convicted of taking bribes for transfers and postings through intermediaries, the Supreme Court held that proof of money reaching an intermediary does not, by itself, establish that the public servant demanded or accepted it. It stressed that approver testimony needs independent corroboration, and that the Section 20 presumption arises only once the foundational facts of demand and acceptance by the accused are proved.
A US federal court dismissed the criminal bribery case against Gautam Adani, accepting the DOJ’s decision to drop it, but the judge criticised the process and said it was no finding on merits. New Delhi: A United States federal court has dismissed the criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, accepting the US Department of […]
The Supreme Court of India criticized the Uttar Pradesh Police for converting civil disputes into criminal cases, calling it a breakdown of the rule of law. Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna warned of potential damages if this trend continues and emphasized that civil matters should not be treated as criminal offences, stressing proper legal processes.
Today, On 28th March, The Kerala High Court dismissed petitions seeking an investigation into corruption allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and others. Justice K Babu rejected the pleas, which also named high-ranking officials, including Vijayan’s daughter. The court found no grounds to order a probe into the claims. This marks a significant legal relief for the Chief Minister amid ongoing political scrutiny.