The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement of proving demand and acceptance of illegal gratification as essential for establishing the guilt of the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The judgment also emphasizes the distinction between Section 19 of the Act and Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the requirement of sanction for prosecuting public servants.

JUDGMENT :

URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.

1. The appellant (accused) has challenged judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 31.8.2005 passed by learned Special Judge, Washim (learned Judge of the trial court) in Special Case No. 2/2002 whereby the accused is convicted for offence punishable under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine Rs. 5000/- in default, to suffer further simple imprisonment for three months. He is also convicted for offence punishable under Section 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the said Act and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for five years and to pay fine Rs. 5000/- in default, to suffer further simple imprisonment for six months.

2. Brief facts of the prosecution case are as under:

On 20.6.2001, complainant Akrosh Devisingh Chavan, resident of village Fulumari, taluka Manora district Washim, approached the office of the Anti Corruption Bureau, Akola (the bureau) and lodged a complaint alleging that he is an agriculturist and his niece Sandhya was studying in “Vasantrao Naik Vimukta Jati Ashram School.” His niece passed 10th Std. Examination and was in need of School Leaving Certificate for admitting herself in Junior College at some other place. The accused being headmaster of the said school was having authority to issue the transfer certificate and, therefore, the complainant approached the accused on 21.6.2001 and requested to issue the transfer certificate. The accused told the complainant that at the time of admission of his niece, amount Rs. 1000/- was agreed to pay which was not paid by her and he demanded amount Rs. 1000/- for the said transfer certificate. As the complainant was not having the amount, he has not paid any amount and contacted his brother and his brother told him that no amount is due against them. In view of a communication from his brother, the complainant again approached the accused at his house and told him that no amount is due against them, but the accused repeated his demand of Rs. 1000/- and declined to issue the transfer certificate, till his demand is fulfilled. As the complainant was not willing to pay the amount, he approached the office of the bureau and lodged the report.

3. After receipt of the report, officers of the bureau called two panchas. In presence of panchas, the complainant narrated the incident which was verified by panchas from the First Information Report. After following due procedure, it was decided to conduct a raid and the amount, i.e. currencies of Rs. 100/- in denomination, is obtained from the complainant. The demonstration as to the use and characteristics of phenolphthalein powder and sodium carbonate solution was shown. The said solution was applied on the tainted amount and kept the amount in a pyjama pocket of the complainant. The instructions were given to pancha No. 1 Gajanan Mahadev Kale to stay with the complainant and pancha No. 2 was asked to stay along with other raiding party members. The complainant was further instructed to pay the amount only on demand. Accordingly, a pre-trap panchanama was drawn. After the pre-trap panchanama, the complainant along with pancha No. 1 proceeded at Fulumari at about 9:00 to 9:30 am. The complainant and panchas proceeded in the campus of the school. They met the accused and during communication, the accused demanded amount Rs. 500/-. The accused drawn the transfer certificate from transfer certificates’ register and handed over the same to the complainant. On demand, the complainant paid the amount and the accused kept it in a shirt pocket. Immediately, the complainant had given signal and the accused was caught. Pancha No. 1 disclosed regarding the demand and acceptance. The hands of the accused and his shirt pockets were examined and the solution was found on his hand as well as shirt pocket. The amount was recovered from his shirt pocket. Accordingly, the post trap panchanama was drawn. The officer