CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT
1
INDEX
1 INTRODUCTION 3
6 CASE LAWS 19
8 CONCLUSION 25
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY/ WEBLIOGRAPHY 26
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INTRODUCTION
“The practitioners of evil, hoarders, the profiteers, the black marketeers, and speculators are
the worst enemy of our society. They have to be dealt with sternly. However well placed
important and influential they maybe, if we acquiesce in wrongdoing, people will lose faith in
us.” -Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
The most influential criminologist of the 20th century and also a sociologist, Edwin Hardin
Sutherland, for the first time in 1939, defined white collar crimes as “crimes committed by
people who enjoy the high social status, great repute, and respectability in their occupation”.
The five attributes of the given definition are:
It is a crime.
These crimes are quite rampant in third world countries due to the economy, for instance, the
ease of doing business has taken a jump of almost 37 positions in the last two years (2018-
2020) in India which allows more investment and businesses to flow into the country but
exposes consumers and their rights and this has led to the rapid increase of cases over 80%
just in 2019. With the world moving at a fast pace and the rate of development in technology
and commerce it’s fair to say that India is unable to deal with the increasing level of
unprecedented growth which is leading to white-collar crimes such as cybercrimes. This also
means that crime can be committed across any country’s border. Due to the ease of
committing these crimes, fraudster have also become greedier and has also resulted in the
lower average age of these fraudsters and due to their ease of accessing and optimizing
technology the number of white-collar crimes is increasing and it also points out that the
future of our country is turning towards the dark side.
Related to the corporate sector, white collar crimes are defined as non-violent crimes,
generally committed by businessmen and government professionals. In simple words, crimes
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committed by people who acquire important positions in a company are called white collar
crimes.
Corruption, fraud, and bribery are some of the most common white collar crimes in India as
well as all over the world. The Business Standard published a report titled ‘The changing
dynamics of white collar crime in India’ stating that in the last 10 years, the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) has found a total of 6,533 cases of corruption out of which 517 cases
were registered in the past two years.
Statistics showed that 4,000 crores worth of trading was carried out using fake or duplicate
PAN cards. Maharashtra showed a rapid increase in the number of online cases with 999
cases being registered. Advancement in commerce and technology has invited unprecedented
growth in one of the types of white collar crimes, known as cybercrime. Cybercrimes are
increasing because there is only a little risk of being caught or apprehended. India’s rank on
Transparency International’s corruption perception index (CPI) has improved over the years.
India is a developing country and white collar crimes are becoming a major cause for its
under development along with poverty, health, etc. The trend of white collar crimes in India
poses a threat to the economic development of the country. These crimes require immediate
intervention by the government by not only making strict laws but also ensuring its proper
implementation.
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REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
1. Greed
The father of modern political philosophy, Machiavelli, strongly believed that men by
nature are greedy. He said that a man can sooner and easily forget the death of his father
than the loss of his inheritance. The same is true in the case of commission of white collar
crimes.
4. Modern technology
With modern technology ease of business is one of its expectations, in a sense, it also
applies to white-collar crimes which have allowed them to reach out to a larger number of
people and commit large scale crimes without being noticed by the law. Many have fallen
victim to different scams such as the credit card scam, moreover, the pandemic opened up
a new market for them by exploiting the medical field and creating a black market for
Covid medications such as “Remdesivir” and over a hundred cases were lodged against
the illegal sales and use of this medicine and in most cases, the Doctors and Hospital staff
were involved. The need and greed of people have driven them to the extent of exploiting
any possible field.
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5. Lack of awareness
The nature of white collar crimes is different from the conventional nature of crimes.
Most people are not aware of it and fail to understand that they are the worst victims of
crime. People who are victims of these crimes fail to comprehend the notion of the crime
and understand the exact offence which has been committed and whom to approach or
lodge a complaint against because most of the time it involves a large corporation and
there may be little or no evidence to essentially produce a criminal and in certain crimes
such as scam or fraud people may not even realise that they have fallen victim to a crime
such as a bank fraud where yearly there are over thousand cases registered. Especially in
metropolitan cities these cases are rising but we lack the awareness to become victims of
such crimes, a wider reach is required and awareness campaigns by the government may
help people understand the severity of these crimes and the loopholes these criminals use
and may help reduce the rate of white-collar crimes in future.
6. Competition
We live in a fast pace world where only the fittest can survive and it has grown to such an
extent that crimes are committed for survival especially belonging to the lower socio-
economic classes their work environment is poorly designed and they are often underpaid
so in order to earn more and make a decent living their moral and ethnic values may be
compromised and just to move out of poverty or to make more gains their behavior
cannot rationalized and is often out of greed that they have no limits. Criminal
organizations and cartels are also multiplying and advancing in their methods due to this
competition.
7. Necessity
People also commit white collar crimes to meet their own needs and the needs of their
family. But the most important thing that the people of high social status want to feed
their ego.
The reasons behind white collar criminals going unpunished are:
Legislators and the people implementing the laws belong to the same class to
which these occupational criminals belong.
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The police put in less effort in the investigation as they find the process exhausting
and hard, and often these baffling searches fail to promise favourable results.
The judiciary has always been criticized for its delayed judgement. Sometimes it
so happens that by the time court delivers the judgement, the accused has already
expired. This makes criminals loose in committing crimes. While white collar
crimes are increasing at a faster rate, the judiciary must increase its pace of
delivering judgements.
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EFFECTS OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME
3. Effect on customers
The most important concern of the customers is whether the products which they are using is
safe or not. This doubt rise to see the rate at which white collar crimes have been increasing.
4. Effect on society
White collar crimes are harmful to the society for those people who should be cited as a
moral example and who must behave responsibly is one committing such crimes. The society
thus becomes polluted.
Also in 2018 the Punjab National Bank (PNB) found that fraudulent transactions of value 11,
346 crore rupees have been taking place in its Mumbai branch. “The Staff there used to fake
LoU (Letter of Understanding) for the buyer’s credit to the company of Nirav modi and
Gitanjali Group”, as published in the Business World.
5. Loss of confidence
Stock fraud or trading scandals, like that happened in the U.S. in the 1980’s, makes people
lose faith in the stock market. Barry Minkow, a teenager and the owner of the business of
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carpet cleaning built a million dollar corporation in the 1980s. But, he was able to achieve
this only through forgery and theft. He managed to create more than 10,000 counterfeiting
documents and sales receipts without coming to someone’s notice. His company although
created through fraud was able to make market capitalization of 200 million dollars and
leased 4 million dollars of land. Later, he was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.
6. Effect on offenders
The authorities have shown no consensus on the definition of white collar crimes. There are
no accurate statistics available to analyze the causes and effects of such crimes and therefore
government fails to take exact measures to prevent them. Also, though these crimes are on
the rise, they are generally not reported. These crimes have no eyewitnesses as they are
committed in camera, which means that the offenders commit these crimes while sitting in a
closed room or in their personal space using their computers and nobody could know about
what they are doing on their computer. This makes it difficult to track the offenders. All these
loopholes become an incentive for the offenders to fearlessly commit such crimes because the
punishment is also for a short term.
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TYPES OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME
1. Blackmail
Section 503 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, defines blackmail as making a demand for
money and any other consideration by imposing a threat to cause physical injury or
damage to one’s property. For example, by revealing a secret of the person which the
offenders knows if revealed will cause great embarrassment to the victim. For example, if
A, the Managing Director of the company XYZ, knows that B, a female employee of the
same company, was bearing the child of somebody other than her husband. A asked B to
commit forgery on the account papers so that he could embezzle 20 lakhs rupees from the
company without anybody knowing about it, or else he would reveal her secret which
would cause great embarrassment not only to her but her family as well.
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is said to have committed the offence of embezzlement. The act of embezzlement may be
characterized as criminal breach of trust which has been defined in section 405 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860.
It defines criminal breach of trust as “an act where a person who has been entrusted with
a property misappropriated it or falsely converted it to his own use or dispose of it
without any law allowing him to do so”. Embezzlement is a misappropriation of
someone’s property where a person has intent to cause loss to the other person and
criminal misappropriation is an offence under Section 403 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860.
The essential elements that constitute the crime of embezzlement are as follows:
The two parties must share a fiduciary relationship, that is, a relationship based on
trust.
It is important that the defendant receives a certain amount of money or asset by making
wrongful use of this relationship.
The defendant while embezzling the asset or money should act like he is the owner of
that goods or he owns the money which he is giving to another person.
There should be an intention to deceive on the part of the offender.
4. Racketeering
It refers to a wrongful act or says criminal act of a person where he indulges in illegal
business with a profit motive. The number of cases of racketeering has experienced a rise
in the recent times. A kidney racket case was revealed in 2019 where a businessman from
Gujarat, Brijkishore Jaiswal, was about to undergo an illegal kidney transplant. This
happened in Powai’s Hiranandani hospital. When the wrongful practice was unveiled, the
CEO of the hospital, Sujit Chatterjee and 5 other people were taken under arrest.
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5. Fraud over calls
Commonly called, telemarketing fraud, these frauds are made over a phone call. Here, a
person is approached to make an investment for building a charitable institution and thus
asking them about the details of their bank accounts to obtain a certain sum of money.
8. Bribery
Bribery is a white collar crime where a person asks for money, or a favor, or something of
value in order to get the other person’s work done. For example, if an electoral officer
asks a person to offer him wine and only then will he be allowed to give vote, it would
amount to bribery.
9. Cybercrime
As the use of computer and internet is increasing, so is the crime relating to it. The crime
which involves the use of computer, coupled with the use of internet is called cybercrime.
It is where the computer is used as the object of the crime or as a tool to commit an
offence. The only legislation which deals with the offences related to cybercrime is
Information Technology Act, 2000. The exact definition of cybercrime hasn’t been
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provided in any of the acts or laws as it is not possible to define such a nature of crime
where computer and internet is involved.
11. Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting is a criminal act defined under section 28 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,
where the imitation of something authentic takes place in order to steal, destroy or replace
somebody’s original work. This facilitates gaining profits from illegal transactions and
deceiving a person who believes that the representation is made to him is true and the
imitated work is of more value. The crime of using counterfeiting is generally related to
coins and currencies and is punishable under section 489B of the Indian Penal Code,
1860. In some cases, it also relates to imitating of products like clothes, bags, shoes,
watches, art, toys, etc. Counterfeit products carry fake logos and brand names and in
some products, harmful chemicals have also been found leading to the death of the person
using it.
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Examples of white collar crime in medical profession could be- issuing fake medical
certificates, facilitating illegal abortions, selling sample drugs and medicines directly to
the patients or to the chemists in India. Sometimes, the professionals in the medical field
are seen giving advice to criminals of how to escape the allegations using medical
grounds.
In Karnataka, two doctors, K.H. Jnanendrappa and K.M. Channakeshava, were charged
with making fake medical certification for Abdul Karim Telgi, who was involved in a
multi-crore stamp paper racket in order to help him get bail on the ground of health
issues. Therefore, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 they both were held
liable with 7 years’ imprisonment and with a fine of 14 lakh rupees each.
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the concrete slabs were not mentioned in the inventory given to him for the audit as a
result 6 people had died and 35 were seriously injured.
15. In education:
Many private educational institutions involve themselves in fake practices like using
fictitious documents to and fake details in order to obtain grants from the government to
run their institution.
It was in 2019 when the New India Express has reported that a senior railway ticket
checking staff was arrested by the Central Crime Branch for leaking out the question
papers of the exams for the post of constables in return of money.
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COURTS AND PENALTIES FOR WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
The white collar crimes have not been defined anywhere in the law, but there exists various
legislations which imply the existence of such crimes in India.
We are well aware of the fact that more than 3 crore cases are pending before the Indian
Judiciary. In this case, it would be very difficult to dispose of the cases of white collar crimes
as early as possible.
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2. Punishment for false statement
Section 448 of the Companies Act, 2013 states that: if a person deliberately makes a
false statement, knowing it to be false or deliberately omits any material fact,
knowing it to be material than he would be held liable for his wrongful act. This false
statement can be made either through return, report, certificate, financial statement,
prospectus, statement or any other documents required for the purpose mentioned
under this Act or any rules made under it.
When any company is about to dissolve or otherwise also in case of any matter
arising under this Act, in any affidavit, deposition or solemn affirmation,
He shall be punished with imprisonment and fine both. The imprisonment will not
be less than 3 years and may extend to 7 years and fine may extend to 10 lakh
rupees.
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amount of fine, in addition to the term of imprisonment provided in the act for that
offence. But, in case the offence was committed after a period of 3 years of
commission of the offence for the first time then this rule would not be applicable.
CASE LAWS
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The CBI started its investigation under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the Indian
Laundering Act was only with the Enforcement Directorate, which is of course subjected
to the power given to the Central Government under Section 45 (1-A) of the Prevention
of Money-laundering act.
5. Satyam Scandal
A confession letter written by B. Ramalingam Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam
Computers Services Limited, and published in Times of India on January 7, 2009,
revealed this scam. In the letter, he admitted to tampering with his books of accounts by
inflating assets and understating liabilities.
The company’s financial situation is reflected in the books of accounts. Before making an
investment, investors can rely on them as a crucial tool. Accounts books were falsified in
order to defraud shareholders and investors. The total cost of the fraud was around 14,000
crore, and it is thought to have played a significant role in the 2009 recession.
In response to this scandal, SEBI responded forcefully, finding Ramalinga Raju and nine
significant associates guilty of insider trading as well as engaging in dishonest and unfair
business practices. In addition to prohibiting the accused from entering the security
markets in any way for a period of 14 years, SEBI ordered the accused to pay
approximately 3000 crores within 45 days. In order to ensure that a similar scam never
occurred again, SEBI was able to respond strongly.
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6. Ketan Parekh Security Scam
From 1999 to 2001, Ketan Parekh engaged in circular trading and stock manipulation. He
borrowed money from financial institutions like Global Trust Bank and Madhavpura
Mercantile Co-operative Bank and used it to manipulate many K-10 stocks. The scandal
cost roughly ₹ 1,250 crore. Despite serving only one year in prison, he will not be
permitted to trade on the Indian stock market until 2017.
Although he has been accused of performing from behind the scenes his name still echoes
down the street. Parekh and his associates were allegedly involved in insider trading and
circular trading through front companies, according to an Intelligence Bureau Report.
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9. CWG scam
Athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations compete in a variety of sports at the
Commonwealth Games, which is an international competition. It occurs once a year. It is
run by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The Commonwealth Games scam was
carried out by Suresh Kalmadi. He oversaw the Games’ planning committee as its
chairman. As a result, he awarded the Swiss Timings the ₹141 crores contract.
Furthermore, Swiss Timings’ time equipment cost ₹95 crores.
Additionally, the sports officials were required to live in subpar accommodations by the
chairman. The Central Vigilance Commission learned about the CMW scam at this time.
Along with providing fewer facilities for athletes, this scam resulted in the theft of ₹
70,000. They were detained on charges of cheating, conspiracy, corruption, and forging
documents with the intent to cheat. In India, this is unquestionably a serious white-collar
crime.
The top investigating agencies of the country like the Central Bureau of Investigation,
the Enforcement Directorate, the Income-tax Department, The Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence and the Customs Department, needs strengthening, by way of
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implementing strong regulating policies. The Central Vigilance Commission should
monitor the working of the officials sitting at top positions and also cross-check their
works, so as to ensure transparency in the system.
As the method of commission of such white collar crimes is advancing, so should the
training of the investigating officials. It often happens that ageing officers are well
experienced to understand the nature and techniques, but are not able to utilise the
technology for tracking the suspect. This happens due to lack of training. So, every
investigating officer must be trained in such a manner that, no matter how complicated
the case is, they would be able to easily resolve it.
To uproot the existence of such crimes, it is very important to include strict laws into
the system. Less amount of fine and shorter period of imprisonment makes it very
casual for the offenders to commit such crimes.
Fast track courts and tribunals should be set in all the parts of the country for the early
disposal of these cases. The tribunal should be provided with the power to fine or
imprison someone who has been held guilty. Such measures would lower the rates of
occurrence of white collar crimes.
The electronic and print media should be utilized in the right way to spread awareness
about white collar crimes. The general people need to be aware of such crimes and that
they are taking place everywhere, from a small cafe to big multinational companies.
Also, they need to be aware of the remedies they could seek in case they become victim
to such crimes.
Stringent laws and hefty fine and long term imprisonment should be given to the
offenders for committing such crimes. And for this to happen, the Indian Penal Code,
1860 should be amended and include provisions for the white collar crimes. For
example, the IPC could have a separate chapter dealing with white collar crimes.
The government may establish a separate body which would look into the matter of
crimes and criminality prevailing in the country. The independent body could be named
as the National Crime Commission. Since their entire work would be related only to the
crimes and would be an independent body, it could work more efficiently towards
reducing criminality in the country.
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CONCLUSION
White collar crimes have two surprising features, first, that they are non-violent crimes,
though the criminals have the tendency to gain control or have a sense of entitlement, and,
second, that they are committed by people in the higher profession.
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However, these crimes are also committed by poorly paid underlings, although the
mastermind behind the commission of such crime could be a rich person enjoying a higher
social status in his occupation. white collar crimes are often committed because of peer
pressure or are dependent on the culture of the company.
As our society is growing towards modernity and the world is experiencing new
technological advancement, the rate of crime is also increasing at a faster rate. Particularly
the growth in white collar crimes has been enormous. From the medical profession to
educational institutions, these crimes are being committed everywhere.
The cases of online fraud are also increasing at an alarming rate. India, as a developing
nation, has faced difficulties in leading its economy towards growth because of these crimes
in general and corruption in particular.
The investigating officials are in need of training where they could acquire the skill to trace
these criminals, otherwise tracking of whom is difficult, complicated and tiresome job. The
investigating official’s work should be scrutinized to ensure transparency in the work as the
white collar crimes are committed by people enjoying higher social status in their occupation.
The government must make laws that are strict enough to reduce the commission of such
crimes. And the system should be such that not only there exist laws giving strict punishment
to the accused but also dispose off maximum cases in a short while. If not done so then
people will soon lose complete faith in the system, as these crimes are committed by people
who should act as a role model for the society.
The media has a key role to play in reducing the rate of increasing white collar crimes. It has
been noted that most of the white collar crimes go unreported. So, if the media becomes more
active towards publishing frauds and scams at higher levels and revealing how do the people
at higher position in a company use their powers arbitrarily, and also make efforts in making
people aware about the white collar crimes, and avoid corrupt practices, then this would
definitely help in reducing the rate at which the white collar crimes are being committed.
REFERENCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1. Crime and Criminology by Dr. S.R. Myneni
2. Criminology and Penology by Dr. Ashok K. Jain
WEBLIOGRAPHY
3. https://blog.ipleaders.in/white-collar-crimes
4. https://indianlegalsolution.com/growing-white-collar-crimes-in-india
5. Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab, (2005) 6 SCC 1
6. Emperor v. Kanayalal Mohanlal Gujar, (1939) 41 BOMLR 977
7. A.I.R. 1987 SC 1321
8. SEBI v. Burman Plantation and Others, (2013)
9. Abhay Singh Chautala v. C.B.I., (2011)
10. Binod Kumar v. State of Jharkhand and Others, (2011)
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