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April 2012

Asked for bribe? You can appeal Babu’s acquittal

By Tarunkumar Singhal, Raman Jokhakar, Chartered Accountants
Reading Time 2 mins
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Those who complain of corruption or bribes in government are ‘victims’ under the law and can file an appeal challenging the acquittal of the accused bureaucrat, the Bombay High Court has ruled. A Division Bench of Justice V. M. Kanade and Justice M. L. Tahaliyani recently extended the scope of the legal definition of the word ‘victim’ in the changes introduced in 2009 in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to include complainants in corruption cases.

“In our view a restricted meaning cannot be given to the word victim,’’ said the judges, adding, “In a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the inaction or omission on the part of the public servant of not passing any order on an application or passing an adverse order since bribe is not given would constitute the loss or injury and therefore, even such a complainant would fall within the category of a victim.’’

The Court was hearing a petition filed by 38-yearold Kurla resident B. U. Batteli, who had dragged the state anti-corruption bureau to Court and had sought permission under the 2009 CrPC amendments to challenge the acquittal of two government officers in a corruption case that he had lodged against them. Earlier, under the CrPC only the prosecution agency could give the go-ahead to file an appeal in any criminal case.

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