The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a public servant cannot be jailed on charges of accepting bribe unless both the demand and the acceptance of the kickback is established by the investigating agency.
A bench of Justices A.M. Sapre and Indu Malhotra passed the ruling while acquitting a dismissed inspector of the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking, Dashrath Singh Chauhan, accused by the CBI of demanding a bribe of Rs 4,000 from complainant Arun Kumar in March 1995, of the charge of accepting the inducement to permit the installation of an electric connection for Kumar’s factory.
Delhi High Court had convicted Chauhan while acquitting co-accused Rajinder Kumar, through whom the bribe had allegedly been taken.
Justice Sapre wrote: “It is for the reason that in order to prove a case against the appellant, it was necessary for the prosecution to prove the twin requirement of ‘demand and the acceptance of the bribe’ amount by the appellant”.