SC acquits man who charged Rs 2 extra on Rs 10 stamp paper two decades ago
New Delhi, May 2 (PTI): In a peculiar case, a vendor accused of corruption for charging an extra Rs 2 for a stamp paper two decades ago was on Friday acquitted by the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the prosecution failed to establish beyond all reasonable doubt, the demand of bribe and its acceptance under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
The top court, therefore, set aside the 2013 conviction of Delhi-based Aman Bhatia, a licensed stamp vendor from a local court.
The Delhi High Court had confirmed his punishment in 2014.
It came on record that on December 9, 2003, the complainant went to the office of the sub-registrar, Janakpuri in Delhi to purchase a Rs 10 stamp paper.
Bhatia allegedly demanded Rs 12 for a Rs 10 stamp paper.
Against the extra demand of Rs 2, the complainant lodged a written complaint with the anti-corruption branch, which laid a trap to catch Bhatia red handed.
Bhatia was subsequently booked for overcharging under provisions of the PC Act and convicted on January 30, 2013 and sentenced to a year in prison.
His conviction and sentence were confirmed by the high court on September 12, 2014 by holding him a public servant under the provisions of the PC Act.
On Friday, the top court while deciding the appeal of Bhatia answered two questions -- if the high court was right in holding a licensed stamp vendor a public servant and if yes, whether his conviction sustainable?
The top court held stamp vendors in the country, performed an important public duty and received remuneration from the government for such public services be termed as public servants under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
"Stamp vendors across the country, by virtue of performing an important public duty and receiving remuneration from the government for the discharge of such duty, are undoubtedly public servants within the ambit of Section 2(c)(i) of the PC Act," the bench ruled.
The legislature, the top court said, used a comprehensive definition of "public servant" to achieve the purpose of punishing and curbing the growing menace of corruption and keeping this intention of the legislature in mind, the definition of "public servant" as defined under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) Act should be given a purposive and wide interpretation.
"It is the nature of duty being discharged by a person which assumes paramount importance when determining whether such a person falls within the ambit of the definition of public servant as defined under the PC Act," the bench said.
Referring to the provisions of Delhi Province Stamp Rules, 1934 the bench held Bhatia was remunerated by the government and therefore his case attracted the PC Act.
Despite holding Bhatia a public servant under the provisions of the PC Act, the top court did not find a demand of bribe and its acceptance in the trap laid by the ACB.
"There is no question of a presumption under Section 20 (public servant accused of offences). Consequently, we find ourselves compelled to conclude that it would be entirely illegal to uphold the conviction of the appellant under Sections 13(1)(d)(i) and (ii) read with Section 13(2) of the Act," it said.
The bench while allowing Bhatia's appeal said his conviction couldn't be sustained and was, therefore, deserved to be set aside.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
