Recently we have witnessed that Rajasthan Child Welfare bodies members were taking bribe for providing compensation sanctioned by State government, and they also drop a matter of child labour for just 7,500 rupees. Accepting a bribe or asking for the same is an offence punishable by law.
Haryana State Vigilance Bureau arrested 91 people including 83 government officials in the past six months till June this year. The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has arrested 15 public servants ( defined as under Section 21, IPC) for allegedly accepting bribes every month on average.
They were taking bribes ranging from 5,000 to 5 lakh in separate cases. So, you can understand the gravity of this matter.
Chapter 9 A of IPC ‘of offence related to elections ‘ talks about bribery ( Section 171 B, IPC) and punishment for Bribery ( Section 171 E, IPC).
Section 171 B reads as –
“(1) Whoever:
(i) gives a gratification to any person with the object of inducing him or any other person to exercise any electoral right or of rewarding any person for having exercised any such right; or
(ii) accepts either for himself or for any other person any gratification as a reward for exercising any such right or for inducing or attempting to induce any other person to exercise any such right, commits the offence of bribery; Provided that a declaration of public policy or a promise of public action shall not be an offence under this section.
(2) A person who offers, or agrees to give, or offers or attempts to procure, a gratification shall be deemed to give a gratification.
(3) A person who obtains or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain a gratification shall be deemed to accept a gratification, and a person who accepts a gratification as a motive for doing what he does not intend to do, or as a reward for doing what he has not done, shall be deemed to have accepted the gratification as a reward.”
Punishment for Bribery is mentioned under section 171 E, IPC which states that whoever commits the offence of bribery shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one years or with fine or both.
However, one needs to know that bribery by treating shall be punished with a fine only. Now, the question is what is ‘bribery by treating’?
It is a form of bribery where the gratification consists of things to be consumed in the form of food, drink, entertainment or provisions.
The aforementioned offence is – Non – compoundable, non – cognizable, bailable and triable by Magistrate of Ist class.
