Long trial no ground for leniency in white-collar crime: Court
Facing long trials cannot be a ground for leniency, especially in cases of economic offences, a court here has held while sending a man to two years in jail for illegal possession of gold in a 20-year-old case.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Facing long trials cannot be a ground for leniency, especially in cases of economic offences, a court here has held while sending a man to two years in jail for illegal possession of gold in a 20-year-old case.
"It cannot be a ground for a lenient view that the accused suffered a long trial. No doubt he has suffered the trial for over two decades but such a long trial cannot be blamed on the court or the complainant exclusively," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A K Kuhar said.
Adopting tough stand against white-collar crimes, the court stated "In economic offences, a serious view is taken for the reason that such offences are committed in a very calculated manner, fully conscious of the effect of the act".
The court further noted that while awarding punishment in such cases, there must exist an element of "deterrence" as the mentality of an accused herein is totally averse to the interest of the society.
Rebuffing convict Hargovind Singh for a plea that he had already suffered a lot due to the long drawn trial, the court in a recent order observed that his argument did not cut much ice with it as his crime was too grave in nature to be diluted by such contentions.
Singh, who owns a transport business, was arrested by the customs department sleuths in 1987 after he was allegedly found in possession of the huge quantity of gold in violation of the law.
According to the prosecution, the value of the contraband gold recovered from him was worth Rs 31 lakh in 1987.
"It cannot be a ground for a lenient view that the accused suffered a long trial. No doubt he has suffered the trial for over two decades but such a long trial cannot be blamed on the court or the complainant exclusively," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A K Kuhar said.
Adopting tough stand against white-collar crimes, the court stated "In economic offences, a serious view is taken for the reason that such offences are committed in a very calculated manner, fully conscious of the effect of the act".
The court further noted that while awarding punishment in such cases, there must exist an element of "deterrence" as the mentality of an accused herein is totally averse to the interest of the society.
Rebuffing convict Hargovind Singh for a plea that he had already suffered a lot due to the long drawn trial, the court in a recent order observed that his argument did not cut much ice with it as his crime was too grave in nature to be diluted by such contentions.
Singh, who owns a transport business, was arrested by the customs department sleuths in 1987 after he was allegedly found in possession of the huge quantity of gold in violation of the law.
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According to the prosecution, the value of the contraband gold recovered from him was worth Rs 31 lakh in 1987.
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