₹100 bribe too small an amount to prosecute under Prevention of Corruption Act: Bombay high court

MUMBAI: Dubbing an alleged bribe of Rs 100 in 2007 for a medical certificate as "too small" then and more so now, Bombay high court has said that the amount was "trivial" to invoke criminal proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It said departmental proceedings could, instead, have been initiated, while upholding the acquittal of a rural hospital doctor in 2012.

In 2007, one L T Pingale accused Dr Anil Shinde, the medical officer of a rural hospital in Paud, in Pune district, of seeking Rs 100 to certify his injuries following an alleged assault by a nephew.

Pingale complained to the Anti-Corruption Bureau and with its help, laid a trap, which was called off after the team was informed that the doctor was on leave. A second trap was later laid and the doctor was caught. He faced a trial after sanction for his prosecution was granted on December 6, 2008, by an under-secretary in the Maharashtra government.

The trial court acquitted Dr Shinde in January 2012, holding that there was no case made out against him. It held that the under-secretary was not the right authority to grant the sanction for prosecution, which it said was granted without any application of mind. Besides, it said, the case of Dr Shinde being absent on the day of the first trap was false, adding that the accusation was false as he had issued a medical certificate. The state, through Paud police station, challenged the acquittal that year.

The HC bench of Justice Jitendra Jain held that prosecution failed to prove the charges. It cited a 1991 HC case on R30 bribery, which held that provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be invoked in such cases.


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