Court acquits peon of bribery charge

Observing that a peon is not authorised to sanction a loan and so cannot be held liable to accept a bribe for the same purpose, the Bombay high court recently acquitted a peon caught accepting a bribe of Rs400 to sanction a bank loan.

On December 9, justice VM Kanade quashed and set aside a special judge’s order, dated May 3, 2003, convicting Shrikant Borade. The trial court had awarded him 15 months rigorous imprisonment and one year simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs300.

According to the prosecution, complainant Rajendra Bhosale had a milk business and decided to purchase an autorickshaw under the Prime Minister Employment Scheme.

To avail of the scheme, an application had to be made to Ratnakar Bank, Rukadi branch through the District Industrial Centre, Kolhapur.Borade, a peon with DIC, demanded Rs400 from Bhosale for sanctioning his loan. On Bhosale’s complaint, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kolhapur, trapped him on August 24, 1994.

Justice Kanade upheld Borade’s lawyers’ submission that Bhosale was aware that Borade was a peon and did not have the authority to sanction his application. There is no independent material on record to indicate he demanded a bribe to sanction the loan, he added.

He added that Bhosale’s defence appears to be probable that he demanded the money for assisting Borade in completing documents and other formalities under the scheme. Noting that the trial court “clearly erred in convicting the appellant (Borade)”, the judge struck down the order.