NEW DELHI: A bribery case involving just ₹500 has finally been resolved after 36 years, with the Supreme Court of India upholding the conviction of a former excise official while reducing his jail term to one year.
The case dates back to June 1990, when the official was caught red-handed accepting a ₹500 bribe. A case was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
A trial court took 16 years to deliver its verdict, convicting the accused in March 2006. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and fined ₹2,000 under Section 13(2) of the Act for criminal misconduct.
The matter then moved to the Uttarakhand High Court, which dismissed his appeal in April 2012 and upheld both the conviction and the sentence.
However, the case remained pending before the Supreme Court for another 14 years. His appeal was first heard in August 2012 and was listed for hearing on 21 occasions before different benches during this period.
A bench comprising Justices Pankaj Mithal and P. B. Varale finally disposed of the matter, affirming that there was no error in the findings of the lower courts.
While upholding the conviction under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the apex court reduced the sentence to the minimum one-year imprisonment, taking into account the convict’s current age of 75.
The bench noted that the man was about 40 years old when the offence occurred and that, given the circumstances and the long passage of time, the punishment could be reduced to the statutory minimum while maintaining the conviction.
