Corrupt persons should be hanged in public: SC

NEW DELHI: Observing that everyone wants to loot this country, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the only panacea to rid the country of corrupt elements was to hang a few of them on the lamp post.

"The only way to rid the country of corruption is to hang a few of you on the lamp post. The law does not permit us to do it but otherwise we would prefer to hang people like you to the lamp post," a Bench of Justices S B Sinha and Markandeya Katju remarked during arguments put forth by counsel for an accused.

As counsel R Singh, tried to make some submission Justice Katju further said, "Everywhere, we have corruption. Nothing is free from corruption. Everybody wants to loot this country. The only solution for this menace is to hang some people in the public so that it acts as a deterrent on others."

The Bench's scathing observations came during the hearing of a bail application moved by one Braj Bhushan Prasad, a dismissed employee of Bihar government for his alleged involvement in the Rs 1000 crore fodder scam in which the name of the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had also figured prominently.

The counsel's submission that Bhushan was a mere budget accounts officer further infuriated the Bench, which observed "Look at that! you are supposed to audit the funds, but see what you have done."

Bhushan was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by a Special Court in Jharkhand in connection with the fodder scam.

The Bench also rejected the counsel's plea for a direction to the Jharkhand High Court to dispose off the criminal appeal filed by Bhushan against his conviction.

"The Supreme Court does not have any powers to give such directions. Only in exceptional circumstances, we may pass some direction," the Bench observed, while declining to pass any orders to the High Court.