Rajya Sabha passes bill meting out stringent penalty for bribes

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Prevention of Corruption  (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which seeks to punish bribe givers for the first time with imprisonment of up to a maximum of seven years was passed. The bill amends certain provisions of a 30-year-old anti-corruption law and was passed by the Upper House unanimously with voice vote.

Minister of state for personnel, Jitendra Singh, called it a "historic anti-corruption  legislation" to check graft in the country and said the bill has many provisions to ensure  speedy trial of corruption cases besides providing protection to bureaucrats, even after their retirement, from malicious complaints. The Bill will now go to Lok Sabha. For the bribe takers, the bill proposes to increase the punishment to a minimum of three years.