White-collar crime refers to financially motivated
nonviolent crime committed by business and government
professionals. Within criminology, it was first defined by sociologist Edwin
Sutherland in 1939 as "a crime committed
by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his
occupation".
Prof.
Paranjape has outlined some of the remedial measures for combating white -
colla,: criminality, which are listed below:
1)
Creating public awareness against these
crimes through the media of press, and other audio-visual aids and legal
literacy programmes.
2)
Special Tribunals should be constituted
with power to award sentence of imprisonment upto 5 years for white - collar
crimes.
3)
Stringent regulatory laws and drastic
punishment for white- collar criminals may help in reducing these crimes.
4)
A separate chapter on white - collar
crimes should be incorporated in the Indian Penal Code by amending the Code, so
that white - collar criminals who are convicted by the court do not escape punishment
because of their high social status.
5)
Convictions should result in heavy fines
rather than arrest and detention of white - collar criminals.
6)
There is an urgent need for National
Crime Commission which may squarely tackle the problem of crime and criminality
in all its facets.
7)
Lastly, public vigilance seems to be corner-stone
of anti-white collar crime strategy. Unless people strongly detest such crimes,
it will not be possible to contain this growing menace.
There is need for strengthening of morals
particularly in the higher strata and among the public services. It is further
necessary to evolve sound group norms and service ethics based on the concepts
of absolute honesty and integrity for the sake of national welfare. This is
possible through character building at grass-root level and inculcating feeling
of real concern for the motherland among youngsters so that they are prepared
for an upright living when they enter real life.
On the basis of the recommendations
of Santhanam Committee, some of the relevant laws were amended (on the lines of
retaining the jurisdiction of ordinary criminal courts but doing away with some
of the cumbersome provisions of criminal law in the context of white - collar
crimes). Thus, greater powers are conferred on the investigating officers and
on the magistracy, and summary trials now also possible for some of the
offences (e.g. in enactments like Anti-corruption laws (Amendment) Act, 1964; Foreign
Exchange (Amendment) Act, 1964; Prevention of Food Adulteration (Amendment)
Act, 1964, etc.). The laws have also been made less favourable to the accused
person by incorporating certain presumptions against them under certain
circumstances. Under Sec. 4 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, there is a
presumption that money received other than legal remuneration by a public
servant is an illegal gratification.
Regarding 'Measures to check and
control the criminalisation of politics', there is no dearth of laws to prevent
criminals from entering politics. No law can prevent or solve declining
standards of honesty and integrity in the society. A change in the political
environment is called for so that people with greater integrity, social
commitment and genuine patriotism could come. The public has to be less
forgiving, more unsparing in its choice of politicians; the press, more
adversarial, less willing. , Depoliticising the bureaucracy and the police is
another important step which should be taken.
In 1993, the Government of India appointed
a committee under the chairmanship of N.N. Vohra, Cabinet Secretary, "to
take stock of all available information about the crime syndicates/mafia organisations
which had developed links with and were being protected by government
functionaries and political personalities.". The Vohra Committee Report
while acknowledging the existence of a nexus between the politicians and the dons
of the criminal world, has spelt out the writing on the wall, saying that "Mafias"
are virtually running a parallel government pushing the State apparatus into
irrelevance. The Committee said that a nodal agency, headed by a serving
bureaucrat. to be established to check/break the criminal- politician nexus.
It is submitted that such agency
should be a politically immune body involving persons of unquestionable
integrity such as sitting or retired judges. In Dinesh Trivedi v. Union of
India (1997) 4 SCC 306, the Supreme Court (in connection with the Report of
Vohra Committee) observed: "In view of the seriousness of the charges
involved and the clout wielded by those who are likely to become the focus of
investigation, it is necessary that the body which is entrusted with the task
of following the investigation through to the stage of prosecution, be such
that it is capable of enjoying the complete trust and confidence of the people.
An institution like the Ombudsman/ Lokpal could command such confidence and
respect. Till its creation, a high- level committee be appointed by the President
in consultation with the Prime Minister and Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The
committee shall monitor investigations involving the kind of nexus referred to
in the Vohra Committee Report.
Courtesy:-
Legal Point Foundation
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