New Delhi: The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, while giving an important judgment today i.e. Thursday (December 15), has said that under the Prevention of Corruption Act, direct evidence of 'demand of a bribe' is not required to convict a public servant and such demand can be proved by circumstantial evidence. The court further said that even if direct evidence is unavailable due to the death of the complainant or other circumstances, the public servant can still be held guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act, if it is proved that he has accepted the bribe.

The Constitution Bench also held that a court of law can make a presumption of fact in respect of demand or acceptance only when the basic facts are proved. Justice Abdul Nazeer, Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice A.S. Bopanna, Justice V. Ramasubramaniam, and Justice B.V. Nagaratna's 5-judge bench had reserved the order in this matter on 23 November. In February 2019, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), finding inconsistencies in an earlier 2015 Supreme Court judgment in Satyanarayana Murthy vs State of Andhra Pradesh, which stated It was held that there is lack of prima facie evidence against the accused, therefore the convict, the public servant, should be acquitted.

The Supreme Court said that the court should not be soft against the corrupt. The court further said that the corrupt officers should be booked and held guilty, as corruption has taken hold of a large section affecting governance. The court said that it has an impact on honest officers. The Supreme Court observed that a corrupt public official can be convicted even on the basis of circumstantial evidence when there is no direct evidence against him.

In the absence of complainant evidence/direct or prima facie evidence of demand of illegal gratification, the Constitution Bench held that deduction under Section 7 and Section 13(1)(d) of the culpability/crime of a public servant is presumptive. In 2019, a division bench referred the matter to a constitution bench.

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