‘Section 197 of CrPC must be amended’

"It will take a thousand Anna Hazares to wipe out corruption in India," says DNA reader Anil Singh, who is also the founder of Hyderabad-based NGO - Fundamental Duties Foundation.

Singh was in Ahmedabad on Saturday. The reason he gives for his belief is the existence of section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). "Corruption is deep-rooted in all areas. I don't know much about the Lokpal Bill. All I know is that as long as Section 197 stays, corruption will remain as it is. The Section has a clause that states that if a government official has to be prosecuted for corruption sanction is required from the appointing authority. Without the sanction, courts do not accept the complaint," Singh explained. Being "birds of the same feather" the appointing authority usually does not give its sanction, he added.

Singh has been fighting the corruption for the last seven years. He used to have a website for this purpose but it had to be shut down because some people had complained to the court, he said. 

"I have filed cases against corrupt officials but to no avail. Moreover, you will find that several cases have been stuck with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) because of lack of sanction. Section 482 of the CrPC also gives corrupt officials some kind of protection. It enables them to manipulate courts such that cases are dismissed due to lack of evidence," says Singh.