Download Probation of Offenders Act, 1958: Procedures and Statutory Provisions and more Cheat Sheet Law in PDF only on Docsity!
THE PROBATION OF OFFENDERS ACT, 1958
(1) An act to provide for the release of offenders on probation or after due admonition and for matters connected therewith.
- This act may be called the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.
- It extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
(2)The Probation of the Offenders Act,1958 excludes the application of Section360 of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 whenever the act is applied.
(3) Section 3 to Section 12 of the probation of the offenders act, 1958 deals with the procedures of the court to deal with the Release of the Offenders.
(4) Definitions-
- “CODE” means the code of criminal procedure,
- “PROBATION OFFICER” means an officer appointed to be a probation officer or recognised as such under section 13.
- “PRESCRIBED” means prescribed by rules made under this act.
STATUTORY PROVISIONS UNDER THE ACT (1) The provision is broadly classified into Procedural and Substantive general laws dealing with probation of the Offenders. (2) The first provision to deal with Probation was in section562 of the code of criminal procedure,1898. (3) After amendment in 1973, the Probation was dealt with in Section360 of the code of criminal procedure.
- Any person who is not below twenty-one years and is convicted of a crime for which the punishment is imprisonment for seven years or is convicted for an offence punishable with fine.
- Or any person who is below twenty-one years or if any women convicted of an offence not punishable with imprisonment of life or death and no previous conviction is proved against the offender.
[ The court might release him on entering the bond for good conduct and peace instead of punishing the o ender with imprisonment .]
Case - Jugal kishore prasad v. the state of bihar The SC stated that the aim of the law is to deter the juvenile offenders from turning into obdurate criminals as a result of their interaction with seasoned mature-age criminals in case the juvenile offenders are sentenced to incarceration in jail. ( Modern criminal jurisprudence recognises that no one is born Criminal. A good number of crimes are a result of a socio-economic environment.)
THE OFFENCE FOR WHICH PROBATION CANNOT BE GRANTED UNDER THE ACT-
sections cases
Section 325 of the indian penal code- This section speaks about the violence that causes Grievous Hurt. Thus, the probation of the offender act does not provide a release on the basis.
AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF PROBATION-
The object of probation law is more to reform the offender than to punish him. Simply it can be understood as the conditional release of an offender on the promise of good behaviour. The objective is to give a chance to the anti-social person to willingly cooperate with society.The aim of this section was to reform the young offender who might have committed the crime under the influence of bad company.
THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT,1988-
(1)The prevention of corruption act was enacted in order to fight corruption and other malpractices in government and public sector business in india.
(2)It aimed at making anti-corruption legislation more effective and to eliminate corruption in government offices and public sector organisations in india.
(3)under the prevention of corruption act of 1988, the general punishment is from three to seven years in jail for lower-level offences (under sections 7 & 12), in addition to a fine.
(4) Higher level offences, such as the acts performed by the accused under section13, are penalised with harsher penalties.
(5) the prevention of corruption act does not use the term corruption or bribe, but instead uses the phrase “undue advantage”. Undue advantage is defined as any benefit which is given to a public servant.
(6)The benefit which is given should be something other than the public servant's lawful salary or any other lawful payment owed to the public servant. Public servants-
- Whoever works for the government or gets their salary from the government.
- A judge
- Anyone who works in the court
- President, secretary
- Vice-chancellor, teacher or employee
WHEN DOES A PUBLIC SERVANT COMMIT THE OFFENCE OF TAKING A BRIBE- A public servant is guilty of taking a bribe when he/she accepts or attempts to obtain any unofficial money or gift- (1) Performing official duty (2) Improperly performing official duty (3) Not doing official duty
PUNISHMENT FOR TAKING A BRIBE? (1) Imprisoned for 3 to 7 years, along with a fine. (2) A public servant can also be punished for criminal misconduct with imprisonment for 4 to 10 years, along with a fine. (3) It does not matter if the public servant was successful in criminal misconduct, even if he attempted the same he can be imprisoned for 2 to 5 years, along with a fine.
WHETHER PROBATION OF OFFENDERS ACT IS APPLICABLE TO OFFENCES UNDER PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT?
dismissal of the appeal, the appellant shall surrender and has to undergo the remaining period of sentence.
❖ The benefit of probation of offenders act cannot be extended to an accused convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment under section 5(1)(c) read with section 5 (2) of the prevention of corruption act has been held by Hon’ble supreme court in state of gujarat v. V.A.
In the said decision their lordships of the hon’ble SC held as follows-
- In this case the only point involved is to whether the provisions of the offenders act would apply to the present case where the respondent was convicted under section 409, 467 and 471 IPC and section 5 (1)(c) read with section 5(2) of the prevention of corruption act.
The HC gave the benefit of the probation of offenders act to the accused and since last 6 years the respondent is enjoying this benefit.
- The benefit of probation of offenders act cannot be given to an accused convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment for life.
- Decision holds that the probation of offenders act is not applicable. The appeal is accordingly dismissed.
(1) Case - state of gujarat v. Ayub Gani Bhai odia. (2) Case- Gurnam singh,J. In bansi dhar V. The state of Haryana cr. A503 of 1976 decided on 21st aug 1979. ( The provisions of probation of offenders act of 1958 are not applicable to the offences punishable under section 5(2) of the prevention of corruption act.)
