One year imprisonment awarded to Patwari in trap case
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JAMMU, Apr 15: Special Judge Anti-corruption Court, Jammu Tahir Khurshid Raina has awarded one year imprisonment to a Patwari namely Mohd Sharief for commission of offences under Prevention of Corruption Act. As per the prosecution case, the Patwari was nabbed redhanded while demanding and accepting bribe from one Narain Singh for issuance of attested copy of Mutation of the land in village Surinsar. The investigation in the case finally culminated into the charge-sheet and accordingly trial commenced in the case. Finally, the court convicted the accused and awarded sentence of one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for commission of offences under Section4-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Similar sentence was awarded to the accused for commission of offence under Section 5(1)(d) of the Act. Both the sentences will run concurrently. However, while awarding the sentence, the court took serious note of the menace of corruption. “The mandate of the law is that punishment must commensurate to the gravity of the offence committed. Neither it looks to be a persecution of the convict by the court, nor to be so brief as looks to be a jest. So a fine balance is required to be struck between the two”, Special Judge said, adding “mere prescribing of punishment in the statute book is no deterrence to the criminals, nor its severity, rather the certainty of the punishment to be awarded matters the most. So once accused stands convicted, the punishment must follow and the destined abode of the convict must be jail, to give a clear and bold message that whosoever breaks the law, the law will take its own course”. “The accused is a public servant having the official status of a Patwari. He is the first face of the Revenue Department in the society who is exposed to the people at large. The commoners or the influential, rich or the poor of the society, have one way or the other to meet him to regulate their revenue entries in context of their landed property etc, and for issuing of important revenue documents from him which have to be initially reported by him”, the court said. “It is quite imperative on him to be very fair, just, accessible, available, humble and ready to help. If he behaves arrogantly and moves with the move of an illegal money from the pocket of the applicant to his pocket, then the revenue system will collapse and people at large will feel frustrated”, court said, adding “corruption, in its various forms and facets, is prevailing since long and has unfortunately deepened its tentacles in the system so strongly that society has, in fact, got compelled to live with it like any other influenza”. “We have umpteen laws to curb it since independence, but all laws failed to eradicate it and proved damp squib. We have failed to create such a character in people across the nation whereby they could have thought the country first, acted as the saviours of the resources of the country than its tormentors”, Special Judge said, adding “need of the time is to raise a concerted effort against the corruption on all fronts. This lofty objective is not to be left to be achieved by the Government agencies and the courts only”. “Therefore, taking serious note of the lethal impact of this menace and the colossal loss it has caused to society and social fabric, this court, which is specially established to decide corruption cases, conveys its concern to all stake holders of the society to rise to the occasion and start a sincere endevour for the complete annihilation of the corruption”, Special Judge said