A Delhi court has sentenced a Delhi Police head constable to one-year imprisonment for demanding a bribe of Rs.4,000 from a woman for releasing her husband from the custody at the Rohni’s Sector 16 police station in 2008.
The head constable had taken the woman’s husband to the police station on the charge of picking up a fight with his neighbour. The police officer had arrived at the spot on a call to the police control room by the woman. When the woman requested the officer to release her husband, he initially demanded Rs.10,000 but it was settled for Rs.4,000.
However, instead of paying the bribe, the woman reported the matter to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi Government. The ACB sleuths laid a trap to arrest the head constable but he did not turn up at the fixed place. Later, the ACB had registered a case against the police officer on the basis of the conversations the woman had with him on her mobile regarding the payment of bribe in lieu of the release of her husband. The woman had recorded the conversations.
In fact, the recorded conversations proved crucial in the conviction of the police officer as the woman, the complainant in the matter, and her husband had turned hostile in the trial of the case. The evidence by the raiding officer and punch witnesses, in whose presence the conversations between the head constable and the woman were recorded, also helped the court to hold him guilty. The witnesses had heard the conversations as the woman’s mobile’s speaker was on when she made calls to the cop.
While convicting the head constable Surender Singh, Additional Sessions Judge Narottam Kaushal also ordered prosecution of the woman for giving false evidence on oath.
“… I hold that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had demanded bribe from the complainant, which he negotiated during the phone calls…,” Mr. Kaushal said.
While convicting the officer, the Judge took a lenient view on the request of his counsel. “I am inclined to take a lenient view. I am of the opinion that ends of justice shall be served by sentencing the convict to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year for the offence punishable under Section 7 of The Prevention of Corruption Act,” Mr. Kaushal said.
