Corrupt man to clean ground

In a unique punishment to someone convicted in a corruption case, a lower court in Bihar has asked the accused to remove garbage and clean the Gandhi Maidan, where locals go for morning walk.

The exceptional punishment was pronounced by a court at Raxaul in north Bihar, where a judge awarded “clean-up job” to the owner of a public distribution system (PDS) charged with black-marketing foodgrain and kerosene meant for BPL beneficiaries.

Apparently aimed at “cleaning the rot” in the corruption-ridden PDS system, the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Mahesh Prasad Singh incorporated “clean-up job” in his sentence, besides imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on PDS owner Shamshuddin Mian.

The judge directed the PDS owner to prune bushes and remove garbage on the huge Gandhi Maidan campus. He also instructed Shamshuddin to get a certificate of adherence of the court order from a competent authority in local administration. Failure to comply would invite a six-month jail term.