Judgement

JAGANNADHADAS J.: The appellant in this case was a clerk in the office of the Running Shed Foreman of the East Indian Railway at Kanpur. He was convicted under Section 161 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and nine months, and also to a fine of Rs. 200. The conviction and sentence have been upheld by the Sessions Judge on appeal and by the High Court in revision.

The charge against the appellant was that on the 6th of January, 1951, he accepted illegal gratification of Rs. 150 from the complainant Kurphekan - a retrenched cleaner in the Locomotive Department of the Railway, examined as P. W. 2 - as a motive for getting him re-employed in the Railway (by arranging with some superior officer). There was an alternative charge under Section 162 of the Indian Penal Code but it is no longer necessary to notice it since the conviction is for the main charge under Section 161 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Special Police Establishment having received information of the demand of the bribe arranged for a trap and caught the appellant just at the time when he received the sum of Rs. 150 from the complainant and seized the amount. The appellant