‘Sexual favours’ to be considered as bribe under proposed amendments to anti-corruption law

A Parliamentary Committee has proposed a new law under which seeking a “sexual favour” can be considered as bribe and people can be penalised for it. In its report on the new anti-corruption bill, the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha has endorsed Law Commission's report and recommended inclusion of "undue advantage" in a relevant provision of the proposed legislation to cover "any gratification other than legal remuneration", including sexual favours, to explain offence relating to public servant being bribed. In a first, the Parliamentary Committee has recommended criminalising private sector bribery by bringing in corporates and their executives in the ambit of proposed anti-corruption law and recommended jail term of upto seven years along with fine. In November last year, some official amendments were moved to replace the term "financial or other advantage" with "undue advantage" to make "any gratification other than legal remuneration" punishable. "Members of the Committee also felt that the purport of the words 'undue advantage' used in the proposed amendments includes all forms of pecuniary and non-pecuniary gratifications and appears to be wide enough to be misused by the enforcement agencies," the report said.