Big amount or small, bribe is illegal: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

The High Court of Karnataka has said that it does not matter if the amount of bribe demanded is small, but what matters is whether it was for illegal gratification. Dismissing an appeal by a Revenue Inspector convicted for receiving a bribe of Rs 500, the HC said, “It is not how much that matters, but what matters is the amount being received was whether towards illegal gratification or not,” the HC said.

M Seshanna was a revenue inspector in the office of the Tahsildar at Chamrajanagar. The complainant had sought to change the katha of his ancestral agricultural land to his name after the demise of his father. He made an application in this regard on May 22, 2007. Seshanna, the revenue inspector is alleged to have demanded a bribe of Rs 2,000 for the same.

The complainant paid him Rs 1,200. But Seshanna insisted on payment of remaining amount. The complainant approached the Lokayukta and a trap was laid. On July 7, 2007, the complainant paid Rs 500 to Seshanna. The Lokayukta police arrested him and recovered the money. The trial court sentenced Seshanna to one year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.5000 on him in 2010.

Seshanna approached the High Court in 2010. The judement in the petition was delivered by Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar on October 31, 2022. Seshanna’s defence in the HC was that there was no proof for the payment of Rs 1,200 which was alleged in the complaint.

The HC however said that it was not required. The HC concluded that, “Just because the prosecution was not able to place any material for payment of Rs 1,200 no adverse inference can be drawn against the prosecution because there is concrete proof for demand for Rs 500.” Another defence of the accused was that the transfer of katha was already completed before the Rs 500 bribe was paid.

The HC dismissed this contention too saying, “It is quite common to take a defence about completion of work in a trap case.” Dismissing the appeal, the HC said that there was no need to modify the punishment imposed