Cash-for-query scam: Delhi high court quashes charges against journalists

The Delhi high court on Friday quashed all charges against two journalists who did a sting operation in 2005 and caught 11 MPs accepting bribes for raising questions in parliament.

Observing that corruption in the country has taken deep roots, the court said that acting as agent provocateurs to expose graft at the topmost levels does not amount to abetting this crime.

Hearing the petition of journalists Anirudh Bahal and Suhasini Raj who did the operation for internet portal Cobra Post, justice SN Dhingra observed that “charging the petitioner under offence of the Prevention of Corruption Act would amount to travesty of justice”.

“Every citizen must strive for a corruption-free society and must expose corruption whenever it comes to his or her knowledge and try to remove it at all levels, more so at the higher levels of management of the state,” the court said.

“I consider that sovereignty, unity and integrity of this country cannot be protected and safeguarded if the corruption is not removed from this country,” the court observed while quashing charges against the petitioners.

Quoting Chanakya’s ‘Arthshastra’, the court said, “It has been advised and suggested that honesty of even judges should be periodically tested by the agent provocateurs. I consider that the duties prescribed by the Constitution of India do permit citizens to act as agent provocateurs to bring out and expose and uproot corruption.”

 “We know what whistle-blowers are facing. They are being harassed or killed. Had the information been given by the petitioners to the police, the MPs would have got to know about the operation beforehand,” the court said.