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| Court acquitted accused after 11 years facing trail in trap case | | |
Jammu, September, 29:- Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Mr. JR Kotwal today acquitted Bachittar Singh, who was at the relevant time posted in the office of Chief Accounts Officer GP Fund Jammu, who was caught red-handed by the team of VOJ on February 17, 1995 while accepting Rs 50/- from the complainant.
According to the prosecution case that on February 17, 1995, Mohd Rashid lodged a written complaint before the SP VOJ stating that he had applied for allotment of GP fund Number, the dealing lady Assitant had been avoiding the matter and he was informed about influence exhorted in the office by Bachittar Singh a class IV employee. The complainant approached accused, who demanded Rs 50/- as illegal gratification from complainant, which was scheduled to be paid on February 17, 1995. upon this information, VOJ after registering the FIR constituted a trap team and laid the trap and recovered the bribe money Rs 50/- from the pocket of accused. After completion of the investigation, Challan was presented in the Court of Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu.
Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Mr. JR Kotwal after hearing CPO appearing for the State and Advocate Abhinav Sharma appearing for the accused, observed that Mr. Shakeel Ahmed Beig, who was Incharge of the trap team and a senior officer of VOJ has created a serious doubt about the recovery on the whole, while stating that Rs 50 note recovered by Jai Paul Singh was seized, he has further stated that some more articles and money were recovered on a general search of the accused, which were seized vide a separate seizure memo. What his statement shows is that search pocket leading to recovery of tainted note and a general body search of the accused were separately effected and separate memos were drawn. Upon this Court said that this however is contrary to prosecution case, as the seizure memo would show as if only one search was effected by Jai Paul Singh, which had yielded the tainted note of Rs 50/- and some other money and articles, which were seized by a common a seizure memo. As against the contradictory and inconsistent statement of these witnesses, the other three witnesses, who are all VOJ officers have cryptically stated that an independent witness had conducted the search and recovered the tainted note. Given the patent inconstancies and contradictions in the evidence, it is not possible to arrive at particular conclusion and in the result the factum of recovery of tainted note of Rs 50/- from the possession of the accused cannot be said to have been satisfactorily proved.
Court further observed from assessment of entire prosecution evidence, irresistible conclusion is that it has not been proved that the accused had demanded and accepted Rs 50/- from the complainant, much less that accused demanded and in pursuance thereof accepted as illegal gratification from the complainant, charge against the accused therefore fails and he is held not guilty and is acquitted.
Mr. JR Kotwal Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu in the acquittal judgment further observed that in the end Court cannot resist pointing the disproportionately action taken in this case. At the time when corruption moves on luxury wheels and relaxes in cozy rooms, it was sought to be hunted in muddy lanes and tattered huts. To execute this hunt is suitable complaint was procured against a class IV employee in disregard of his capacity to do an official favour to the informant. The trap that was executed by a well-drawn team including a DySP and number of Inspectors was more a pump than real. Object to a trap was nobody’s concerned in as much as the decoy and shadow witnesses were not properly appraised of and advised about their role. The result is now for everybody to see, Court said.
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