The Kerala High Court has acquitted a village officer and village assistant of Kannur-I Village Office of bribe charges slapped against them by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in 2002.
The vigilance case was that K. Rajagopal and A.K. Hashim, Village Officer and Villageman, while working at the Kannur-I Village Office during 2002 had accepted ₹200 as bribe from Mashoodil, the complainant, to issue Adangal certificate for his wife’s inherited land. The Kozhikode Vigilance Court had sentenced both the officers to one year imprisonment and a fine of ₹2,000 each.
Allowing the appeals filed by the convicts against the Vigilance Court’s verdict recently, Justice Kauser Edappagath pointed out that the complainant and his wife did not support the prosecution’s case saying that the accused did not make any demand for bribe. The complainant had also deposed that he went to the village office, gave them phenolphthalein powder-smeared notes as instructed by the Vigilance officers. The court noted that he conveniently stated that no demand was made by the accused. The court added that it was constrained to acquit the accused for want of legal evidence to prove the demand of illegal gratification. The mere acceptance of illegal gratification by the accused or the recovery of phenolphthalein-smeared currency notes from their possession without proof of demand was not sufficient to establish guilt.
The court also ordered initiation of an inquiry against the complainant for the offence under Section 193 of Indian Penal Code for giving false evidence. Giving false evidence is an evil that must be effectively curbed and dealt with a strong hand, the court observed.