Can wife be prosecuted as abettor post death of husband booked for corruption?
SC Entertains Woman’s Plea In ‘Unique’ Case
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:5.7.2019
Can a woman, accused of abetting her public servant husband to indulge in corruption, be prosecuted after the man dies and the trial court closes the case against him? The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine this unique legal question raised in the woman’s petition.
The vigilance department in Odisha had in 2005 chargesheeted retired electrical superintending engineer Anant Ram Behera under Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his sources of income. It had roped in his wife Arati Behera nee Sahoo as co-accused as an abettor as most of the properties purchased through the alleged ill-gotten wealth were registered in her name.
Challenging concurrent decisions of the trial court and Orissa high court refusing to quash the case against her despite death of her husband who was the prime accused, advocate Shibashish Misra argued before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta that she has been made an accused as an abettor, a role which could be proved only if the commission of corruption against her husband was established.
Since the husband died on June 12, 2017 and the case against him has abated, there was no means for the prosecution or her to establish what was the accused public servant’s known sources of income, Misra said. “When the husband of the petitioner who is the principal accused in the case has died and the case against him has abated, the accounting of such alleged disproportionate income cannot be fastened on the wife,” he said.
Though the CJI-led bench initially observed that “it will be a dangerous proposition to be accepted”, it later felt that the question of law raised by the woman had not been dealt with by the apex court in the past. It issued notice to the Odisha government’s vigilance department seeking its response to the petition.
The trial court while closing the case against Behera after his death, decided to continue trial against his wife under Section 13 of PC Act as well as Section 109 of IPC for helping her husband amass ill-gotten wealth. The special judge at Cuttack had held that even in case of death of the main offender, the case shall stand against the abettor.
The HC had dismissed Arati’s plea for quashing of the case against her saying there was no provision under the criminal procedure code that on the death of the main accused, the case shall be closed against the abettor of the crime. “Whether the offences under PC Act has been proved or whether the public servant cannot satisfactorily account for the property disproportionate to his income has to be determined at the end of the trial and not in the midst of it,” it had said.
ONE-OF-A-KIND ISSUE
SC Entertains Woman’s Plea In ‘Unique’ Case
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:5.7.2019
Can a woman, accused of abetting her public servant husband to indulge in corruption, be prosecuted after the man dies and the trial court closes the case against him? The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine this unique legal question raised in the woman’s petition.
The vigilance department in Odisha had in 2005 chargesheeted retired electrical superintending engineer Anant Ram Behera under Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his sources of income. It had roped in his wife Arati Behera nee Sahoo as co-accused as an abettor as most of the properties purchased through the alleged ill-gotten wealth were registered in her name.
Challenging concurrent decisions of the trial court and Orissa high court refusing to quash the case against her despite death of her husband who was the prime accused, advocate Shibashish Misra argued before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta that she has been made an accused as an abettor, a role which could be proved only if the commission of corruption against her husband was established.
Since the husband died on June 12, 2017 and the case against him has abated, there was no means for the prosecution or her to establish what was the accused public servant’s known sources of income, Misra said. “When the husband of the petitioner who is the principal accused in the case has died and the case against him has abated, the accounting of such alleged disproportionate income cannot be fastened on the wife,” he said.
Though the CJI-led bench initially observed that “it will be a dangerous proposition to be accepted”, it later felt that the question of law raised by the woman had not been dealt with by the apex court in the past. It issued notice to the Odisha government’s vigilance department seeking its response to the petition.
The trial court while closing the case against Behera after his death, decided to continue trial against his wife under Section 13 of PC Act as well as Section 109 of IPC for helping her husband amass ill-gotten wealth. The special judge at Cuttack had held that even in case of death of the main offender, the case shall stand against the abettor.
The HC had dismissed Arati’s plea for quashing of the case against her saying there was no provision under the criminal procedure code that on the death of the main accused, the case shall be closed against the abettor of the crime. “Whether the offences under PC Act has been proved or whether the public servant cannot satisfactorily account for the property disproportionate to his income has to be determined at the end of the trial and not in the midst of it,” it had said.
ONE-OF-A-KIND ISSUE
No comments:
Post a Comment