Patna: In a first-of-its-kind judgement, a local court in Bihar has asked a corrupt businessman accused of robbing foodgrains meant for their distribution among the poor to clean up a local public ground and give it a tasteful look or be ready to face jail.
The court ordered this judgement on Thursday while hearing a corruption case against Shamsuddin Miyan who runs a public distribution shop, an Indian food security system which distributes subsidised food and also non-food items to the poor, in East Champaran district. He was accused of black-marketing foodgrains and kerosene allotted to him between December 1984 and March 1985 which was to be distributed among the poor.
Delivering the judgement, the court of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Mahesh Prasad Singh asked the shop owner to clean up the local Gandhi Maidan, prune the mushroomed-up bushes and clear the garbage dumped there.
The court also directed the accused to get a formal certificate from the local district administration mentioning that he had completed his duty, failing which he will be jailed for six months. Gandhi Maidan is the lone open space available in Motihari, district headquarters town of East Champaran, for morning walkers or sports lovers.
Fear of jail has, in the meantime, prompted the accused shop owner to start his cleaning work on war-footing and submit a proof of it to the court as soon as possible. “It’s better to clean the garbage-filled ground than languish in jail for six months. I don’t want to go to jail,” Shamsuddin said.
This is the first time in the state that the court has given any such order which has been widely hailed by local villagers.
Earlier in a similar manner, a local court in Patna had asked several juvenile delinquents accused of committing variety of crimes of cleaning up floors of local temples for six months without any fail.
