In a significant judgement, a Delhi court has ruled that family responsibilities and health issues cannot be grounds for seeking leniency in sentence in corruption cases.
The court said this while awarding three years’ jail to a former income tax official in a 19-year-old graft case.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge Rajiv Mehra said ‘emotions or sentiments have no role to play’ in dealing with the question of award of sentence in corruption cases.
The court turned down the plea of SK Bhatia, a member of an inspection team in the Appropriate Authority Department of Income Tax in the year 1995, who had accepted bribe of Rs.3 lakh for granting ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) in a property transfer case. Bhatia had sought leniency in the sentence, which the court denied saying corruption charges against him were ‘grave and serious.’
It also held that corruption was working like an ‘invincible syndicate’ and stressed that there should be a ‘zero tolerance for bribe and corruption in any place.