Court awards one yr imprisonment to Patwari

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 18: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu, A K Koul today awarded one year imprisonment to Mangat Ram, the then Patwari Halqa Parladhpur Phallain Mandal, who was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Organization while accepting the bribe.
After hearing CPO Harminder Singh for the Vigilance Organization whereas Advocate KS Charak for the accused person, Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu observed, “corruption has eaten the vitals of our society and the magnitude of the crime committed and the circumstances in which it is proved to have been committed are relevant considerations for deciding the measure of punishment befitting the crime committed”.
“The accused has been proved to have committed criminal misconduct by abusing his position as a public servant and has received pecuniary advantage, to do what he was, as such public servant, required to do in the ordinary course of his official duty. It matters least how much of pecuniary advantage he got by abusing his official position because the relevant consideration is that he indulged in corruption being unmindful of the fact that his misdeed could lead him to serious consequences”, the court said.
“The menace of corruption is rising with every passing day and if corrective measures are not taken it is sure to pollute the working of our institutions which may ultimately be disastrous for the entire society”, the court further said.
While balancing the crime of the accused with the circumstances peculiar to him and the amount of bribe involved, the court said, “a harsh sentence would certainly be deleterious to his family and his own future career. So while convicting the accused he is sentenced to an imprisonment of one year”.