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Neeraj Dutta v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 291Decided 28 Feb 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1669 of 2009
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The appellant challenged her conviction under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The complainant was not available to give evidence of the demand for a bribe.

Decision Breakdown

This is a referral order, not a final judgment. The Court found conflicting decisions on whether the demand for a bribe must be proved by direct evidence or can be inferred from circumstances when the complainant is unavailable. It referred the issue to a larger bench and placed the matter before the Chief Justice. The conviction was neither upheld nor set aside.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet. How a bribe demand can be proved without the complainant was left to a larger bench.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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