Seeking ‘sexual favour’ is corruption under proposed law

Ashwini Shrivastava New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Seeking "sexual favour" can beconsidered as bribe and people can be penalised for it under anew law proposed by a Parliamentary Committee. In its report on new anti-corruption bill, the SelectCommittee of Rajya Sabha has endorsed Law Commission’s reportand recommended inclusion of "undue advantage" in a relevantprovision of the proposed legislation to cover "anygratification other than legal remuneration", including sexualfavours, to explain offence relating to public servant beingbribed. In a first, the Parliamentary Committee has recommendedcriminalising private sector bribery by bringing in corporatesand their executives in the ambit of proposed anti-corruptionlaw and recommended jail term of upto seven years along withfine. Besides, it has suggested punishment for bribe giverstoo. The instances of graft are covered under Prevention ofCorruption Act, 1988. To enlarge the definition of takingbribe and cover private sector bribery, the government hasdecided to introduce Prevention of Corruption (Amendment)Bill, 2013, which is pending. The term used in the bill todefine bribery related offences was "financial or otheradvantage". In November last year, some official amendments weremoved to replace the term "financial or other advantage" with"undue advantage" to make "any gratification other than legalremuneration" punishable. The Select Committee of the Upper House examined the billand submitted its report recently. "Members of the Committee also felt that the purport ofthe words ‘undue advantage’ used in the proposed amendmentsincludes all forms of pecuniary and non-pecuniarygratifications and appears to be wide enough to be misused bythe enforcement agencies," the report said. The Committee, apprehends that the enforcement or probeagencies may misuse the expression to harass public servant aswell as members of civil society in corruption cases andadvises that adequate precautions be taken in this regard, itsaid. More PTI AKV SKAAR