It is most shocking and most hurting to see that this so-called Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 displays so much of extraordinary, senseless and unwarranted leniency in sentencing towards those corrupt who siphon off crores and crores of rupees and yet are not punished with mandatory death sentence. As if this is not enough, those corrupt are not even punished with mandatory life term! As if still this is not enough, those corrupt are not even punishable with mandatory thirty or forty years!
Even now this is not enough! Those corrupt are not even punishable with mandatory twenty or twenty five years! Even now this is not enough! Those corrupt are not even punishable with mandatory fourteen years!
The leniency saga still does not end! Those corrupt who commit for the first time any corrupt act are not punishable even with mandatory ten years! They can be punishable maximum up to seven years as specified in Section 12 which covers Section 7 and Section 11! Here also the Judge has the discretion bomb to use anytime where he can prefer to give him not seven years in jail but to a term of not less than three years as is the statutory requirement as provided in Section 7! Section 11 is even more lenient and under it the maximum punishment that can be awarded to a public servant for obtaining valuable thing without consideration from person concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant is just five years and as if this is not enough the minimum can be reduced up to six months again by the Judge using the 'discretion bomb'!
It is only when a person habitually commits an offence under Sections 8, 9 and 12 that a person can be convicted up to 10 years in jail along with fine but here again the Judge by using the same 'discretion bomb' can again reduce the jail term to not less than five years! As if this is not enough, Section 13 which punishes a public servant for indulging in criminal misconduct again makes sure that 'discretion bomb' is available with Judge and punishment maximum can be awarded only up to ten years but minimum can be reduced up to four years! What is this?
Should it be called 'The Prevention of Corruption Act' or should it be called 'The Abetment of Corruption Act'? I really fail to understand that why so much of leniency in sentencing corrupt is displayed in this so called 'The Prevention of Corruption Act'! It makes a complete mockery of our country!
Why under Section 19 of this Act has previous sanction been made mandatory for prosecution? Why should the accused be given the benefit to be out in the open for a long period till the time sanction is given? Will the accused not use the extended time to manipulate evidence in his own favour and destroy evidence that incriminates him strongly in any scam? Why should those public servant accused of corruption not be immediately taken to task?
How can corruption be ever prevented by treating corrupt so leniently? We all saw how Lalu Yadav was jailed for just 3.5 years for his role in the fodder scam! He has the option now to appeal in the High Court and then in the Supreme Court. It take many years for the court to be decided at the lower level. This scam happened about 20 years back and decision is coming now! Now it will be fought in higher courts! Then many years get consumed in the higher courts! Finally by the time the case is decided completely in Supreme Court by that time the accused will either die a natural death or by that time would have spent his prime years enjoying life!
All this has to end if India is really serious to control corruption. Only death or life or minimum 20 years in prison must be awarded to all those who indulge in corrupt practice of any kind! What the law currently prescribes is just nothing! It must be enhanced drastically if India really wants to march ahead!
There is no other Act in our country of which I am so ashamed! It is this 'The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988' which really makes me hang my head in shame! What was the intention of the lawmakers when they enacted this Act? Didn't they realize that it will simply fail to deter potential offenders from indulging in it because of so much of leniency? Didn't they realize that it will further encourage potential offenders to make tones and tones of money and even if they are caught they will come out in jail in just few years and would be required to pay a sum of just few lakhs as we see repeatedly in various judgments as we saw in Lalu's case also!
It is precisely because of this that corruption is increasing manifold in our country since last few decades and we are steadily rising high in the corruption index! Even smaller and lesser developed countries rank better than us! What is most worst is that no party ever demands the radical changes that are so badly needed in this so called 'The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988'! Can on earth there be anything more shameful than this?
I feel very happy when I time and again hear our PM Narendra Modi reiterating his government's firm resolve in fighting corruption! But when will this translate into action? When will Centre step on the gas to initiate tremendous changes in this ‘The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988' by which any public servant indulging in corruption would have to either face gallows or at least life imprisonment or at least 20 years in prison?
It is all up to the Centre to take the bull by the horns and initiate radical changes so that corruption can be brought under firm check in our country! Let us hope that Centre acts soon in this regard! The earlier this is done, the better it shall be in controlling corruption and in the so called 'war against corruption' proclaimed by PM Modi before riding to power in 2014 in Centre!
But if Centre itself wants the status quo to continue then we shall certainly see no changes forthcoming in this badly drafted 'The Prevention of Corruption Act'! For repeated offenders the punishment must be either death or life term! The ball is in Centre's court!
Centre must now display political will to make radical changes in this Act which is continuing in more or less the same form in which it was enacted 30 years back! Centre must stop coughing lame excuses to not do anything in this regard! Why has Centre led by PM Narendra Modi not acted decisively on this front even after being in power for nearly 4 years? Does it not want that corruption which is hindering our country from progressing ahead in many ways be swiftly checkmated by taking the most strictest action against those who indulge in corruption?
It must act strongly if it really wants to stand vindicated in the eyes of the public of being really serious enough to wage war against corruption and of making sure that corrupt are not able to make a mockery of our law by coming out of the jail in just a few years time at the most! Corruption is worse than terrorism because without firing a single round of bullet and without getting training from any hostile country like Pakistan, the corrupt is able to kill many innocents by caring a damn for the quality of material used in constructing roads, highways, food etc and mint thousands of crores of rupees and still escape with just a few years in jail and a few lakh as fine as compared to a terrorist who is shot dead by our security forces sooner or later! Thanks to this ‘The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988'!
Still even after 30 years of being enacted we see no major changes being made in it except some cosmetic changes! Most ridiculous! Most depressing! How shameful!
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After Domestic Violence Act, Prevention of Corruption Act is most misused act. I myself is a victim of misuse of "Prevention of Corruption Act". I attended one of most reputed institutes of India (IIT Roorkee) and preferred to serve India rather than going abroad, without knowing that one day I had to suffer because of misuse of "Prevention of Corruption Act" in my own country. My photos appeared on front page of all famous dailies and made headlines of News channels. If I search for my name on google, only information pertaining to this false case appears. Even though leading an honest life till date, I suffered. Yet in public eyes they are hero & I am a criminal. A person who should have been jail is enjoying all luxuries of life, because he had law buying power. Did we dream of this India???? It is very easy for an Investigating officer to put criminal tag on anyone for few bucks. But at the end, no one gains, but it is only an innocent who suffers because of nothing. After spending years in court, even if he gets justice, it doesn't add any value to my life, because I have already suffered. And Justice delayed is justice denied. Was my honesty my biggest crime ?? Where are my fundamental rights ??? Had I left India to serve US or any other country I would have been leading a much better life and people would have called it "Brain-Drain". Its already more than 7 years and case is still at trial stage. Dear Friends, this is an example of unfortunate incident due to carelessness and lack of competency of the authority/ person concerned. Thats why our justice known as "aandha kanoon". Media wont show these messages as they don’t sell. Media is busy posting reports where media's father raped media's sister...shame on this media all dirty people they sell flesh reports where as they don’t speak anything about a man being falsely accused. The media goes berserk while reporting crime. They destroy reputations in a few seconds by some juvenile reporters who do not know the difference between evidence and hearsay. They vitiate the atmosphere with shrill and malicious coverage that condemns the accused before trial. They cast aspersions on every one, except themselves. Otherwise the media ought to have published this part too. Well media is too busy with other interesting news. They don't wan't to take any moral responsibility. They just wan't to finish their targets. They are not social workers. They have their daily targets which they have to complete. What happens to the story later they don't have time for that. So no surprise here that his acquittal has not been publicized. He has to pay some money to these editors only then his story will be shown. It is still the norm of Indian media to lap up everything doled out by the police as the unadulterated truth. To keep the show going, the 24X7 news channels by their incessant reporting and repetition of the same, and the discussion and debates contribute to magnifying an event grotesquely out of shape. These are nothing but trial by media creating an impression, very often a distorted one, in the minds of the people far removed from the real thing. Media is yet to become responsible in this country. There should be a complete ban on media interference in such type of sensitive cases untill final verdict of the court. The laws are being rampantly misused destroying the life of innocents. Media makes the life of such person more miserable. Media & society is interested when any person is accused or arrested. nor public nor media is interested when person proved his innocence And what about the punishment to the police officials and the media which published news without any verification? It should be mandatory that no media should publish any news of any case until entire trial is over (till Supreme court). The police has immunity in such a case and the party which implicates the person is not charged for wrongly implicating a innocent person. In case the person is physically impaired then issue becomes more complicated. Our society is not yet matured to address such incidents and unfortunately media also sells news and such news has no sensation and hence will not be given much weight. It is a relevant issue and we all have to find solution for it. Some sort of accountability is called for from our law enforcing agencies who can keep innocents behind bars for so long. Surely, the police would have known if he is involved or not at a much earlier time but they also drag the case for so long. While mistake happens but correction and intent to correct is also very important. It is very important in this case to make some police officers accountable..... All over the world the cases are decided on the basis of evidences and takes decades together to decide the cases. Evidences are being cooked in so many cases and the innocent person suffers lot of humiliation. The fault mainly lies on the shoulder of the police. Police personnel who arrest the innocent persons ,must be arrested and should be given more punishment for making the false case. In some cases political rivalries are also there .Media is equally responsible for publishing the false news ,which lowers the dignity . The main Villain in this case is Police dept. They are responsible for this innocent man's Tragedy. To save their face they tag this innocent man and destroyed his future. Supreme Court must ask police dept. to suspend the police personnel involved in this case and Police dept. should pay the damage done by them and media should Highlight this man story to get back his dignity in society. This is so casual and flippant of the court - to declare a man innocent after he has suffered for years in jail and courtroom for being 'innocent'? Where is the justice in all this? Who will compensate for years of physical, material and mental trauma and damage? Is it enough to say after so many years that a man is innocent? The law makers and law enforcement will never be able to give justice to the accused and a fair trial will also be denied, probably the helpless accused may be to end up his life. Why action should not be taken against those who gives false/forged testimonies/statements. If crime is not convicted and if the proofs found fabricated by the court, then action must be taken against them as they are also guilty of hiding the truth and fooling the judiciary. Strict laws should be made to punish those who fabricate innocents in false cases and should be more intensive than the people suffered for wrong allegation. One can only imagine how tough it can be to be falsely accused and spend years in courtroom and imprisonment. And it gets even tougher when society rejects his family. I believe the responsibility should be taken by Judicial system. If they feel they have the responsibility to punish someone, they should also be responsible for rehabilitation of persons who were falsely accused. Before making the law, this type of outcome should also be considered. So nobody is humiliated. Scrap the british concocted laws....conceives to protect britsh crimes against indians. It is said that if wealth is lost nothing is lost, if character is lost then everything is lost. Surely victim is an aggrieved party and victim of character assassination out of no fault of his. That is very tricky how his public perception and confidence is restored. Mmany people in world who either destroy their life or go underground in such cases Why should taxpayers bears the burden of wrongs committed by police officers, judicial officers and at numerous times by false accusers? Much more needs to be done by the court towards helping the wrongly accused to rehabilitate in every way possible and should be done pro-actively by the judiciary, not after an appeal. Self respect and dignity are very precious to an individual. The man is well with in his rights to reclaim his good name which had been tarnished due to faulty investigations and indifferent courts. There are numerous examples of an individuals' reputation being dragged through dirt and he has no legal recourse to get it back. There is no apology or acceptance of the mistake committed by the concerned dept. In reality he should be adequately compensated for spending four long years in prison. it is a gross violation of his fundamental right to liberty. Just as the court / police / society can take away the freedom and rights of people who has committed crime, there should be a mechanism to restore it once any one is either acquitted. Our society has no considerations for real redemption. Unless the society, of which we are a part of has broader sense of morality, such pleas is going to get no ears. Scrutinize media and its functioning don't publish any name in public domain till trail is going on. Charge hefty fine if they don't follow the law to respect person’s private & public life. The media should not be allowed to publish names unless the person is found guilty. The media finds pride in publishing names and cooking stories and then they highlight it as if they are lucky that they are the first to report. Sad state of media and their unethical means to gain popularity. The victim goes through hell along with his family during the course of the trial. Our society is very narrow minded; and its sad what his children go through. The media strips him off his dignity and police also does the same. Why his name as acquitted should not be published in the same newspapers on the same page and with an equivalent size of column ? In many cases after so many years in jail, it is difficult to get back on track and run the same business or continue the same job respectfully. Its more trauma than a victim undergoes. Because he bears the sufferings just because it was not his fault. That is the reason why we had a old saying which quotes some thing like "Several culprits could get out from justice, but not even one innocent must be punished by Justice" The state should compensate the victim so that he can be brought on track to earn livelihood and lead a normal and respectable life. Who is at fault, the faulty investigating police or the judge who took all these years to declare him innocent or the society or the media? And with the kind of amendments proposed to this law including proposed Lokpal , more and more innocents will be facing this in the future. Is this not a country anymore to live, though better than afganisthan or pakistan, should we think of moving to Nepal or Srilanka, if not the US or Europe.... to live a life with dignity... God is with you if you are innocent, but when it would be Day of Judgment; all issues will be given an unimaginable and judicious treatment, so wait for actual judgment where every minute action is counted. Every ones including ours respect should be protected there. Let us share this article on our social networking profiles. So that this story reaches millions. If the cutting edge technology of social networking can make the news (good/bad) go viral, round the world and create sensation, i believe we can share this detail of innocence to get dignity back using the same medium which media failed to do. “An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.” Mahatma Gandhi