PC Act | Public Servant's Demand Of Bribe Ought To Be Verified Before Initiating Trap Proceedings: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has reiterated that the public servant cannot be held guilty of accepting a bribe unless the prosecution has established the demand of a bribe and its subsequent acceptance by the public servant. The Court said that when a trap is laid down to catch the public servant red-handed for accepting bribe, then the factum of demand of bribe by the public servant ought to be. The court gave the benefit of the doubt to the public servant as the prosecution was not able to prove the accusation beyond the reasonable doubt as the factum of demand of bribe was not verified by the investigating officer nor was the effort put in by the investigating officer to disassociate with the shadow witness, who was asked to oversee and overhear the transaction of acceptance of illegal gratification. The judgment authored by Justice Sandeep Mehta drew reference from the Constitution Bench Judgment of Neeraj Dutta v. State 2022 LiveLaw 1029, wherein it was held that mere acceptance or receipt of an illegal gratification, without establishing the offer made by the bribe giver or demand raised by the public servant, would not make it an offence under Section 7 or Section 13 or Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.