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TMI Blog2014 (4) TMI 1206X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned Trial Judge. Hence, the present appeals by special leave. 2. The relevant facts which will require enumeration can be summed up as follows. On 16th of November, 2003 in the Delhi Edition of the Indian Express a news item under the caption "Caught on Tape : Union Minister Taking Cash saying money is no less than God" had appeared showing visuals of one Dalip Singh Ju Dev, (deceased first accused) (A-1), the then Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest, receiving illegal gratification from one Rahul alias Bhupinder Singh Patel (third accused) (A-3) in the presence of the Additional Private Secretary to the Minister one Natwar Rateria (second accused) (A-2). Immediately on publication of the abovesaid news item a preliminary enquiry was registered by the ACU-II of the Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi and on conclusion of the said preliminary enquiry FIR dated 19.12.2013 was filed alleging commission of offences under Section 12 of the PC Act, 1988 read with Section 120-B IPC by the present appellants (A-4 and A-6). 3. The aforesaid FIR was challenged in a proceeding before the Delhi High Court registered and numbered as Crl. Misc. Case No. 59/2004. It appe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w Delhi for a number of days and had meetings both with A-1 and A-2 on several occasions in the said hotel and had successfully be-friended them. According to the prosecution, on 5.11.2003, Rahul (A-3) had checked into Room No. 822 in Hotel Taj Mahal, Man Singh Road, New Delhi which was booked under the fictitious name of Raman Jadoja. It appears that on the same day i.e. 5.11.2003, A-3 requested A-1 and A-2 to visit him in the said hotel room. According to the prosecution, A-4 had arranged for installation of hidden video recording equipment in the sitting room of the said suite in Taj Mahal Hotel, Man Singh Road, New Delhi through one Manoj Hora, a dealer in the electronic products. In the late evening of 5.11.2003 A-1 and A-2 reached the abovesaid hotel and went to Room No. 822. They were entertained. Wide ranging discussions between A-3 and other two accused (A- 1 and A-2) were held in different matters including matters relating to certain mining projects in the States of Orissa and Chattisgarh which were pending in the Ministry. According to the prosecution, both A-1 and A-2 had assured A-3 that necessary assistance in getting the pending proposals cleared will be offered. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion was to derive political mileage in favour of the father of A-5 who was the then Chief Minister of State of Chhatisgarh. It is contended that if the above was the aim of the sting operation, surely, no offence under Section 12 of the Act or 120-B IPC is even remotely made out against the accused- appellants. 8. Learned counsels have elaborately laid before the Court the ingredients of the offence of criminal conspiracy defined in Section 120-A of the IPC to contend that there must be (1) commonality of object to be accomplished; (2) a plan or scheme embodying means to accomplish; and (3) an agreement or understanding between two or more persons whereby they become committed to cooperate for accomplishment of the object by the means embodied in the agreement. It is pointed out that going by the result of the investigation mentioned in the chargesheet, as elicited earlier, namely that the operation was aimed to disgrace A-1 and to derive political mileage in favour of the father of A-5, the conspiracy, if any, is to defame A-1 and not to commit any of the offences alleged in the chargesheet. It is also argued that a reading of the chargesheet goes to show that the conspiracy alle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the case is yet to be recorded. Whether the exchange of money for favours in mining projects in Orissa and Chhatisgarh was a pretence or otherwise i.e. real and what were the true intentions behind the operation carried out are matters which will be clear only after evidence in the case is recorded. The aforesaid stage must be allowed to be reached and completed, the learned Addl. Solicitor General has urged. It is also urged that the power to quash a criminal charge ought to be exercised within well defined parameters none of which exists in the present case. 10. The expression 'sting operation' seems to have emerged from the title of a popular movie called "The Sting" which was screened sometime in the year 1973. The movie was based on a somewhat complicated plot hatched by two persons to trick a third person into committing a crime. Being essentially a deceptive operation, though designed to nab a criminal, a sting operation raises certain moral and ethical questions. The victim, who is otherwise innocent, is lured into committing a crime on the assurance of absolute secrecy and confidentiality of the circumstances raising the potential question as to how such a victim can be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gaged in criminal activity or pursuant to a bona fide inquiry, and, (b) although having such a reasonable suspicion or acting in the course of a bona fide inquiry, they go beyond providing an opportunity and induce the commission of an offence. The following factors determine whether the police have done more than provide an opportunity to commit a crime. (1) The type of crime being investigated and the availability of other techniques for the police detection of its commission. (2) whether an average person, with both strengths and weaknesses, in the position of the accused would be induced into the commission of a crime; (3) the persistence and number of attempts made by the police before the accused agreed to committing the offence; (4) the type of inducement used by the police including: deceit, fraud, trickery or reward; (5) the timing of the police conduct, in particular whether the police have instigated the offence or became involved in ongoing criminal activity; (6) whether the police conduct involves an exploitation of human characteristics such as the emotions of compassion, sympathy and friendship; (7) whether the police appear to have exploited a particular vuln ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le entrapping what he considers to be the main crime and the main offender. Should such an individual i.e. the sting operator be held to be criminally liable for commission of the offence that is inherent and inseparable from the process by which commission of another offence is sought to be established? Should the commission of the first offence be understood to be obliterated and extinguished in the face of claims of larger public interest that the sting operator seeks to make, namely, to expose the main offender of a serious crime injurious to public interest? Can the commission of the initial offence by the sting operator be understood to be without any criminal intent and only to facilitate the commission of the other offence by the "main culprit" and its exposure before the public? These are some of the ancillary questions that arise for our answer in the present appeals and that too at the threshold of the prosecution i.e. before the commencement of the trial 15. The answer to the above, in our considered view would depend, as in any criminal case, on the facts and circumstances thereof. A crime does not stand obliterated or extinguished merely because its commission is cla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... only after the evidence of witnesses is recorded. Also, merely because in the charge-sheet it is stated that the accused had undertaken the operation to gain political mileage cannot undermine the importance of proof of the aforesaid facts to draw permissible conclusions on basis thereof as regards the criminal intent of the accused in the present case. 16. An issue has been raised on behalf of the appellants that any finding with regard to the culpability of the accused, even prima-facie, would be detrimental to the public interest inasmuch as any such opinion of the Court would act as an inhibition for enterprising and conscious journalists and citizens from carrying out sting operations to expose corruption and other illegal acts in high places. The matter can be viewed differently. A journalist or any other citizen who has no connection, even remotely, with the favour that is allegedly sought in exchange for the bribe offered, cannot be imputed with the necessary intent to commit the offence of abetment under Section 12 or that of conspiracy under Section 120B IPC. Non applicability of the aforesaid provisions of law in such situations, therefore, may be ex-facie apparent. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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