Return equivalent amount used to trap public servant to complainants without waiting for trial in bribery cases: Karnataka HC
In a verdict that could impact hundreds of corruption cases, the Karnataka High Court has held that complainants, who provided their money for trap operations
In a verdict that could impact hundreds of corruption cases, the Karnataka High Court has held that complainants, who provided their money for trap operations against officials demanding bribe, are entitled to get their money back without waiting for the trial to conclude. The court said that the prosecuting agency, through the instrumentality of the State, has to pay the complainants an equivalent amount from the State exchequer immediately after the trap proceedings attain finality for investigative purposes, leaving the original currency notes to continue as material exhibits before the jurisdictional courts.
Years of wait “To compel the complainant to wait for years together for restoration of his money, merely because he assisted the State, would amount to converting his public spiritedness into an unintended penalty,” the High Court observed. Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while disposing of a petition filed by G. Eshwariaha, a 60-year-old contractor on whose complaint a superintendent of Central Goods and Services Tax was caught red-handed by the sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Ballari while accepting ₹80,000 in cash in 2022.
The petitioner had sought direction for release ₹80,000 along with interest. The action to pay equal amount to the complaint from State’s exchequer, the High Court said, would harmoniously subserves both competing interests as it preserves the sanctity of the evidence indispensable for the criminal trial, while simultaneously ensuring that the complainant is not rendered financially vulnerable merely because he chose to become an ally of the law in exposing corruption. Public confidence “More importantly, such an approach would foster public confidence in anti-corruption mechanisms, encourage honest citizens to come forward with complaints against corrupt public servants, and reinforce the larger constitutional objective of eradicating corruption from public administration,” the High Court said.
Meanwhile, the High Court asked the petitioner to make an application before the special court for CBI cases seeking release of the equivalent of the trap money arranged by him.
The BriefWire