Give or take, bribe is an offence : HC

The mere act of offering a bribe to a government servant is enough to get you charged with abetment under the Prevention of Corruption Act, even if the servant concerned did not accept your bribe, the Bombay high court has ruled. The ruling, which would be considered par for the course in many Western democracies, came recently in a case of attempting to bribe a police officer in Solapur. The ruling is also significant because it comes at a time when some intellectuals, including a senior economic adviser to the prime minister, have been claiming that corruption could be brought under check by decriminalising the act of offering a bribe and only penalising the one who takes the bribe. Abetment of any offence is also punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Justice BR Gavai said. In such cases, whether the public servant concerned accepted the bribe is of no consequence, he said.