By Diksha Sharma
Introduction
“God made man, man made money and money made man mad”
This sentence has a very deep meaning as it means that all humans are creature of the god, these god creatures made money and now money has made these creatures mad for it. Today the world is dancing on the rhythms of money.
Today all are getting mad for earning money as people have made their mentality that if a person is having money then only he is having all benefits of the society otherwise person have to face numerous problems without money. This money has created number of problems for everyone and because of this everything is getting disturbed
So these persons have found their ways to survive and this way has given a birth to a social problem that is bribery. Today higher-class people bribe lower class people to get their work done without their own efforts. Only by giving a bribe higher caste people have lowered their burden by shifting it to working class people.
Today is has become impossible to find anyone who has neither accepted nor given any kind of bribe. Today everyone lives a life full of bribes.
The Act of giving bribe has been done in every small and big thing even if a person wants his kid to get admitted in a better school, than he offer bribe, if a person wants a seat allotted in a train, then also he will offer bribe, if an individual wants to get rid of the crimes he have committed, then in this case also he will offer bribes; as a matter of fact, there is no area in life where a person do not offer bribes.
So, through this article many answers to questions will be found out like; what is the crime of bribery, most importantly that how government is taking steps to overcome this problem.
What is the offence of Bribery?
Before discussing the topic of “Bribery”, it is important to know about one thing that is “Bribe”. A bribe is an illegal Act of offering money or something valuable to police or any official to do anything for a person that is something illegal or wrong or for doing that particular thing that cannot be done in a right way.
Bribery is crime of offering money, giving or receiving money or something valuable to influence a public official to discharge his official duty in the favor of that person.
It is the most common Act of corruption. Bribe the Act of giving money in a wrong way and bribery includes both the aspect that is obtaining and giving money in a wrong way.
When an individual takes an illegal indulgence to exercise his personal pressure over a public servant, to tempt that public servant for rendering any service or disservice to any person or to show favor or disfavor to any particular person (for whom bribe is given) while exercising of his powers.
In June 2021, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with the help of their investigation booked Chief Officer of Talegaon Dabhade Municipal Council.
The case was Chief Officer; Laxman Poshtty with his aide who was a garden supervisor, Vishal Mind was booked for the charges of demanding bribe of 9 lakh rupees from a contractor.
During the investigation the ACB found that the complainant contractor’s company won contract of a civic work in Council. For clearing his bills of payment, Mind on behalf of Poshttey demanded a bribe.[1]
Who is responsible for Bribery: Giver or Taker?
Mostly bribe is given to get some work quickly and easily. Bribery includes some kind of allowances, discounts, and free travel, free food, and money, higher promotions on the job, salary increments, various profitable contract, commissions, tip, property, costly jewelries and expensive items or just about anything. For bribe taker it’s an easy opportunity to make money without making much effort.
Hence, in the Act of bribery both the parties that are giver and taker are benefited. But the question which arises is that who is responsible for the Act of bribery giver or taker? In most cases the person who takes bribe is more involved in the Act as they take advantage of the situation and see it as an easy opportunity to make money.
Here some of the few examples of bribe taker and giver for their own benefits. The following situation will show that both the parties are equally responsible for the offence of bribe.
- Parents who offer bribes to the teacher to pass their child in a particular subject;
- The motorist bribes the policeman to jump the signal etc. to not cure him.
- A citizen bribing the transport officer so that, despite the end of all the tests, he can get his driving license;
- Or a financially vulnerable person bribing to get a subsidized gas connection.
A case was held in which ACB caught a lawyer, Harikrishan Soni for taking bribe. The lawyer was assigned by the District Legal Services Authority to represent the woman complainant in the family.
The lawyer was charged for demanding the bribe of Rs 10,000 from the woman but being assigned by the government he was slated to get a fee. When the lawyer demanded the bribe, the woman approached the ACB. Soni was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe.[2]
What are the laws against bribery in India?
By the assent of President Raj Nath Kovind on July 24, 2018, Indian Parliament has passed a “The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018”, to punish bribe-givers for the first time along with the bribe takers. This bill will work as a barrier in the practice of bribery.
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 is the only legislation in India which provides punishments in relation to corruption by public servants and also for those who are involved in an Act of corruption.
The term ‘public servant’ has been broadly defined which mean “any person who is in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by the Government for the performance of a public duty”.
But after the Amendment Section 9 of the Act its scope has been widened that any commercial organizations (a body which is incorporated in India) that also includes company and its employees who are involved in the payment of bribes to public servants in order to obtain or retain an advantage in the conduct of business for the commercial organization than such organization will be punishable with fine.
After the Amendment has been done, it has prescribed punishments for those who will be found guilty for the Act of bribery, now according to the Section 7 of the Amended Act states that, any Public servant who obtain or accepts or make any attempt to obtain bribery from any person to perform his duty in an improper manner or with dishonesty shall be punishable with imprisonment with its minimum time of 3 years to which may extend to seven years or with fine or with both.
Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amended) Act, 2018 states that any person who gives or promises to give bribe to any public servant for the purpose of not performing his public duty properly or as a reward for improper performance of public duty, that person will be punished for the term which may extent up to 7 years or fine or with both.
Further to protect any person who gives bribe under coercion this section adds that these provisions will not be applicable on that person who was compelled to give bribe but that person so compelled to give bribe or undue advantage to that Public servant, that person must inform about the entire situation to investigating agency within the time period of 7 days.
Conclusion
In country like India, bribery is the major source of income of most of the government officials and public servants more over for private working class. It would not be wrong to say that in today’s world money can also buy happiness. Everyone wants money to survive in this world where everything is getting expensive especially for the middle-class person who cannot afford.
From the above study it is very much clear that a person who has decided to take a bribe, due to any reason, that person can see any chance to take a bribe by any means even, if the person may not have been given any money-spinning proposal by the bribe giver to accept it.
But the citizens cannot complain that the government officials are solely involved in the practice of bribery because sometimes it is the citizen also who offer bribe to these public servants for their benefit.
It can be concluded that problem of corruption in India is more, so our Indian Government has wake up on seeing increasing trend of bribery and also has passed many strict laws to stop the practice of bribery.
Reference-
- Talegaon Dabhade municipal council chief booked for corruption, available at:hindustantimes.com(last visited 16 July 2021) ↑
- Talegaon Municipal Council Chief Officer among four booked for bribery in three cases, available at:indianexpress.com(last visited 17 July 2021) ↑