Judge Kanwar Jeet Arora, while sentencing former BJP president Bangaru Laxman to four years in jail for accepting a bring in a fictitious deal, observed, “It is often said that the accomplice of the crime of corruption is generally our own indifference.”
He pointed out that the “sab-chalta-hai syndrome” has “led us to the present situation, where we are, where nothing moves without an illegal consideration”. The judge observed that “people are forced to pay for getting right things done at the right time. It is time to shun the sab-chalta-hai attitude, the courts should deal strictly with persons found guilty of corruption”.
Laxman’s counsel, Mr Ajay Digpaul, said they will challenged the verdict in a higher court after going through the entire order. Mr Digpaul said the court’s observations were general in nature and had no relevance with the case, which happened 11 years ago.
According to agency reports, the judge also observed: “Corruption, to my mind, is worse than prostitution as the latter might endanger the morals of an individual whereas the former invariably endangers the entire society. It is virulent for the nation and makes people full of ire (sic).”
The court said the case before it was one of “political corruption” as Laxman had committed the crime when he was the chief of a political party which was the largest constituent of the then NDA government.
“Laxman had agreed to exert his personal influence in favour of the fictitious company for his personal gain by way of getting illegal gratification with the intention and belief that the product for which a supply order was required was genuine,” the judge observed.