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Legal News by - KETAN ASATI (This News was written by him during his Internship)
Delivering the keynote address for the event on Wednesday, Justice Hima Kohli emphasizes the need for the enhanced implementation of the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014. She believed it will assist in exposing and apprehending the white-collar crimes and related offences.
White-collar crimes are the offences that are unrestricted against the use of force and are generally perpetrated for monetary benefits based on fraudulence. Examples are fraud, bribery, tax frauds, cyber frauds.
“Whistleblowers serves as a critical line of defence against White-collar crime. Encouraging whistleblowing and providing adequate protection to whistleblowers will help uncover and address such malpractices. Legislation, such as the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014, must be effectively implemented to safeguard those who expose the wrongdoing,” she said while delivering a lecture on the topic “White-collar crime in India from a Judicial Perspective” at the “Second Discourse on Judicial Perspective on Economic Offences and Corporate Malfeasance” organised by the Centre for Discourse in Criminal and Constitutional Jurisprudence.
Whistleblowing is defined as “Making a disclosure that is in the public interest”. It will often happen where an employee reports any unlawful action of its employer to a relevant authority or any relevant governmental organ. It is therefore recommended that whistleblowing should be promoted as this best facilitates the fight against unlawful activities especially corporate crimes also known as white-collar crimes.
Taking a significant step in same direction the Government of India in May, 2014 passed the Whistleblowers Protection Act, to provide guidelines for protection of whistleblowers in non-corporate cases. It was aimed to establish a legal mechanism to deal with complaints about allegations of corruptions or intentional misuse of power against any public servant and to investigate into such allegations, by the Central Vigilance Commissioner, established under the act.
The above step was taken due to the atrocities faced by the whistleblowers previously, like in the infamous case of Satyendra Dubey, where an Indian Engineering service (IES) officer murdered only the next year in Gaya, Bihar, while posted as Project Director in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Koderma, Jharkhand, for whistle blowing about massive corruption in the Centre’s Golden Quadrilateral Highway construction project.
The Supreme Court Judge said that the white-collar crimes are a bigger menace to any country since they are not visible. Therefore, creating awareness on the same cannot be overemphasized.
“White-collar crimes presents a formidable challenge to India’s judicial and economic systems, necessitating a nuanced and comprehensive response. Fight against this crime requires a multipronged approach. The judiciary, supported by robust legislative frameworks and dedicated institutional mechanisms, is pivotal in addressing these offences,” she opined.
In that regard, there is a range of difficulties in fighting white-collar crimes according to the judicial point of view in India. These crimes are usually technical in nature and may involve aspects such as finance, corporate management and computer literacy. The Judiciary is of great importance when it comes to the use, determination, as well as enforcement of laws governing economic crimes, trial fairness as well as sentencing.
She also advocated for the integration of technology and better security systems in coping with white-collar crimes. As it is a fact that these crimes have contributed to the growth of a parallel economy in India and resulting in diverting the resources away from public and into the underground economy.
Hence, it was emphasized to incorporate technology in the existing efficient security systems to deal with white-collar crimes. Advanced analytics using Artificial Intelligence (AI), block chain for secure transactions, higher end surveillance can further help in detection and prevention. Other solutions include the use of techniques such as computerized monitoring various financial transactions, vigorous use of AI supplied algorithms for detecting fraudulent activities, and biometric authentication processes can also enhance protection against fraud and embezzlement.
Crime prevention is the ultimate solution and combating white-collar crimes in India demands a mixture of legal changes, technology and enforcement of the law to maintain financial sanity in the society.
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