Section 23 and Section 24 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

Section 23 prescribes a special rule regarding particulars that may be stated in a charge concerning criminal misconduct under Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Section 24, which formerly protected a bribe giver from prosecution under Section 12 merely because of a statement made in specified proceedings, was omitted by the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 with effect from 26 July 2018.

Section 23 - Particulars in a charge relating to an offence under Section 13(1)(a)

Section 23 creates a specific rule for framing a charge where an accused is charged with the offence covered by clause (a) of Section 13(1). The provision permits the charge to identify the relevant property and the period during which the alleged offence occurred without requiring every individual item or exact date to be separately specified.

Meaning and purpose of Section 23

The provision simplifies the particulars required in a charge where the alleged criminal misconduct concerns property over a period of time. Instead of requiring the prosecution to identify each item and each exact date separately, the charge may describe the property and state the relevant date range, subject to the statutory one-year limit.

2018 amendment to Section 23

Before the 2018 amendment, Section 23 referred to Section 13(1)(c). Section 16 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 substituted the reference to Section 13(1)(a) and replaced the reference to clause (c) with clause (a), with effect from 26 July 2018. Accordingly, the old Section 13(1)(c) wording should not be presented as the current text.

Section 24 - Omitted from the Prevention of Corruption Act

Section 24 is no longer part of the operative provisions of the Act. It was omitted by Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 with effect from 26 July 2018.

What did the former Section 24 provide?

Before its omission, Section 24 dealt with a statement made by a bribe giver in proceedings against a public servant. In substance, the provision stated that such a person's statement that he had offered or agreed to offer gratification or a valuable thing to the public servant would not, merely by reason of that statement, subject him to prosecution under the then-applicable abetment provision in Section 12.

This historical provision should be distinguished from the law after the 2018 amendment. The amended Act introduced a substantive offence relating to bribing a public servant under Section 8, while Section 24 itself was omitted.

Section 13(1)(a) referred to in Section 23

Section 13 deals with criminal misconduct by a public servant. Under the post-2018 provision, Section 13(1)(a) concerns dishonest or fraudulent misappropriation or conversion for a public servant's own use of property entrusted to the public servant or property under the public servant's control, or allowing another person to do so. Section 23 provides the special rule for stating particulars in a charge relating to this offence.

CrPC reference and the current procedural framework

The statutory text of Section 23 continues to refer expressly to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and Section 219 of that Code. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024 and replaced the CrPC as the general criminal procedure law, subject to its commencement and savings provisions. When applying Section 23 in a particular proceeding, the applicable procedural law and transitional provisions should therefore be checked with reference to the date and stage of that proceeding.

Key points

• Section 23 currently refers to an offence under Section 13(1)(a), not Section 13(1)(c).
• The charge may describe the relevant property and the period of the alleged offence without specifying every particular item or exact date.
• The period between the first and last dates covered by the special rule cannot exceed one year.
• Section 24 was omitted with effect from 26 July 2018.
• The former Section 24 remains relevant for understanding the historical statutory position but should not be described as a current operative protection.

This page is a general legal information resource. The applicable version of the statute and procedural law should be verified for the facts and dates of a particular case.