Bombay HC refuses pre-arrest bail to magistrate accused of taking bribe

A judicial magistrate first class in Pune district was denied an anticipatory bail plea by the Bombay High Court HCn in an alleged bribery case under the Prevention of Corruption Act filed in JanuaryldquoThis is a very serious case in which the judicial officer should be arrestedrdquo said Justice Sarang Kotwal in his March 3 order The HC refused the magistratersquos counsel Aabad Pondarsquos request for a stay of four weeks on the rejection ldquoconsidering the gravity of offence and need of custodial interrogationrdquoldquoThe investigation agency needs to go deep in the matterrdquo said Justice KotwalThe HC was of the opinion that the woman magistrate was ldquooccupying a very responsible positionrsquorsquo and added that ldquosocietyrsquos faith in judicial system should not be shaken by such instancesrdquo stated a report in The Times of IndiaAn lsquoassociatersquo of the magistrate also a woman had allegedly demanded and accepted a bribe on her behalf for dismissing a criminal complaint against a milk vendor The magistrate however claimed she was living alone with an infant and had relied on the woman ldquowho won her trustrdquo and helped her find a nanny Ponda said the woman took advantage of the magistratersquos dependence on her and indulged in the alleged crime which he said came as a ldquoshockrdquo to the magistrate who denied ever demanding a bribeOn February 23 the sessions court rejected the magistratersquos prearrest bail plea She then moved the HC where prosecutor S H Yadav opposed her plea The prosecutor relied on a phone call between the magistrate and the coaccused woman to argue she cannot claim ldquoinnocence or ignorancerdquoThe FIR stated that a woman had visited the milk vendorrsquos house on January 4 and asked his brother if he knew about a criminal case against him in a court and that the hearing was two days later She allegedly demanded Rs 5 lakh to have the ldquoseriousrdquo case dismissed They settled at Rs 3 lakh but the complainant said he did not wish to pay any bribe and informed the anticorruption bureau ACB PuneDuring the investigation a phone call was recorded in which the magistrate was allegedly speaking at the other end After the conversation the coaccused allegedly told the complainant to bring the money On January 14 he went to ACB office with Rs 50000 and the officials mixed fake notes and added anthracin powder and gave it to him The complainant gave the cash to the woman in his car and she was arrested ACB claimed that the coaccused woman had accepted the money on behalf of the magistrate The HC in its order said prima facie the phone conversation ldquoat least at this stage does indicate the applicantrsquos involvement in the caserdquoldquoInvestigation shows that there were 147 phone calls exchanged between the twordquo the court added