as

a reward" for having done, any such thing as is described in the definition.

162. Whoever accepts, or obtains, or agrees to

Taking a gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence a public servant.

accept, or attempts to obtain, from any person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification whatever as a motive or reward for inducing, by corrupt or illegal means, any public servant to do or to forbear to do any official act, or in the exercise of the official functions of such public servant to show favor or disfavor to any person, or to render or attempt to render any service or disservice to any person with the Legislative or Executive Government of India, or with the Government of any Presidency, or with any Lieutenant-Governor, or with any public servant, as such, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. 163. Whoever accepts or obtains, or agrees to Taking a gratification for the accept, or attempts to obtain, exercise of personal influence from any person, for himself with a public servant. or for any other person, any gratification whatever as a motive or reward for inducing, by the exercise of personal influence, any public servant to do or to forbear to do any official act, or in the exercise of the official functions of such public servant to show favor or disfavor to any person, or to render or attempt to render any service or disservice to any person with the Legislative or Executive Government of India, or with the Government of any Presidency, or with any Lieutenant-Governor, or with any public servant, as such, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Illustration.

An advocate who receives a fee for arguing a case before a Judge; a person who receives pay for arranging and correcting a memorial addressed to Government, setting forth the services and claims of the memorialist; a paid agent for a condemned criminal, who lays before

the Government statements tending to show that the condemnation was unjust; are not within this Section, inasmuch as they do not exercise or profess to exercise personal influence.

164. Whoever, being a public servant, in respect of whom either of the offences defined in the last two preceding Sections is committed,

Punishment for abetment by public servant of the offences above defined.

abets the offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Illustration.

A is a public servant. B, A's wife, receives a present as a motive for soliciting A to give an office to a particular person. A abets her doing so. B is punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or with fine, or with both. A is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

This is one of the express provisions made by the Code for the punishment of abetment which are referred to by Section 109, and other Sections of the Chapter of Abetment. It will be observed that Sections 162 and 163 extend to attempts to obtain, &c.

The taking of presents by public servants with a corrupt motive is a crime which ought to be made cognizable and punishable by the Criminal Courts. But the mere taking of presents by public servants when such presents are not corruptly taken is not a matter for punishment. The law, however, because of the difficulty of proving what is so little palpable as a corrupt motive, seizes upon one material circumstance of evidence of an offence, and enacts it as a definition of an offence itself.

165. Whoever, being a public servant, accepts or obtains, or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain, for himself, or for any other person, any valuable thing, without consideration, or for a con

Public servant obtaining any valuable thing, without consideration, from a person concerned in any proceeding or business transacted by such public ser

vant.

sideration which he knows to be inadequate from any

T

person whom he knows to have been, or to be, or to be likely to be concerned in any proceeding or business transacted or about to be transacted by such public servant, or having any connection with the official functions of himself or of any public servant to whom he is subordinate, or from any person whom he knows to be interested in or related to the person so concerned, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Illustrations.

(a) A, a Collector, hires a house of Z, who has a settlement case pending before him. It is agreed that A shall pay fifty Rupees a month, the house being such that, if the bargain were made in good faith, A would be required to pay two hundred Rupees a month. A has obtained a valuable thing from Z without adequate consideration. (b) A, a Judge, buys of Z, who has a cause pending in A's Court, Government Promissory Notes at a discount, when they are selling in the market at a premium. A has obtained a valuable thing from Z without adequate consideration.

(c) Z's brother is apprehended and taken before A, a Magistrate, on a charge of perjury. A sells to Z shares in a bank at a premium, when they are selling in the market at a discount. Z pays A for the shares accordingly. The money so obtained by A is a valuable thing obtained by him without adequate consideration.

The proceeding or business must be one for transaction by the public servant,-or if not for transaction by himself personally, it must have some connection with the official functions of himself or of a public servant to whom he is subordinate. These expressions seem wide enough to comprise every step connected with the progress of any proceeding or business through a Court or public office, as well those which are conducted mainly by subordinate hands, as those which come under the immediate direction of the official superior.

Persons who stand in such a relative position to each other as is contemplated in this Section, commit no offence within its terms if they have bonâ fide dealings together touching the buying or selling of any thing. Such a practice as the sale or purchase by a public servant, even at a full and fair price, to or from a person who is a suitor, or has other business for trans

action before him, is not to be encouraged, even if to be tolerated. But this Section provides no penalty for any such case. Its provisions are applicable only when a valuable thing is accepted or obtained "without consideration, or for a consideration which the public servant knows to be inadequate."

Public servant disobeying a direction of the law, with intent to cause injury to any person.

166. Whoever, being a public servant, knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to the way in which he is to conduct himself as such public servant, intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will, by such disobedience, cause injury to any person, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Illustration.

A, being an officer directed by law to take property in execution, in order to satisfy a decree pronounced in Z's favor by a Court of Justice, knowingly disobeys that direction of law, with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause injury to Z. A has committed the offence defined in this Section.

The conduct of many classes of public servants in the discharge of their official duties is regulated not merely by orders received directly from their superiors, but by laws, which prescribe the course of proceeding to be followed. Such laws, whether they relate to judicial or to other proceedings, necessarily give a certain latitude of discretion to those whom they are intended to guide.

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Any direction of law." Whether the direction is given by a written law, or whether it is a mandate proceeding from a competent authority which the public servant is bound by law to obey, as a writ or order for the liberation of a person from prison.

The offence hereby made punishable consists, not in an inadvertent or even careless, but in a corrupt, departure from the direction of the Law. The officer "knowingly disobeys" in order to cause "injury,"-i. e. illegal harm to any person in body, mind, reputation or property, (see Section 44.) There must be

proof of such facts as raise an inference of a wilful disobedience, coupled with the guilty knowledge or intention to injure. A public servant would always be presumed to know the law by which his conduct should be guided. But it would of course be competent to him to shew in mitigation or excuse, that he acted in obedience to the orders of his official superiors and without any intent to injure.

Public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury.

167. Whoever being a public servant, and being, as such public servant, charged with the preparation or translation of any document, frames or translates that document in a manner which he knows or believes to be incorrect, intending thereby to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he may thereby cause injury to any person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

The intention or knowledge is the essence of the offence. Errors of carelessness or ignorance are not made punishable as offences, even though they may occur in important parts of a document. It must be proved, that the accused person is a public servant charged with the preparation, &c. of the document (proof that he usually has the preparation in fact will in the first instance be sufficient),-that the document is incorrect (his knowledge or belief of this will be presumed until the contrary is proved by him),—and that he had the knowledge or intention to cause injury.

See also as to the liabilities of a translation who gives a false translation. Section 191, Illustration (e).

gaging in trade.

168. Whoever, being a public servant, and being Public servant unlawfully en- legally bound, as such public servant, not to engage in trade, engages in trade, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.