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.
- That is committed by an important person of the company.
- Who enjoys a high social status in the company?
- And has committed it in the course of his profession or occupation.
- There may be a violation of trust.
White collar crime is a crime committed by the people who belongs to the higher class of society and are from the reputable group of society. This crime is committed during the course of their occupation. The people who are committing this crime have usually a better understanding of technology, their respective field, disciplines etc. White collar crimes are largely evolved from few years. And they are seen to be committed in large organizations that cover a large number of activities. So, we can say that these crimes are common to trade, commerce, education, health etc. As the criminal profile has changed a lot in few years the traditional crimes have partially switched by the white-collar crimes in the country. The primary difference between the white and the blue crime is that the ordinary i.e., the criminals of blue crime are people of under-privileged section and upper class is involved in white collar crime and they commit the crime in a very organized manner. They maintain their respect in the society until the crime is discovered.
WHITE COLLAR CRIME IN INDIA:
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 on 22.11.2016 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. The report also mentioned that around 3.2 million people suffered a loss because of the stealing of their card details from the YES Bank ATMs which were administered by Hitachi Payment Services.
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.
In 2014, India was ranked 85th which subsequently improved to 76th position in 2015 because of several measures to tackle white collar crimes. In 2018, as per the report of The Economic Times, India was placed at 78th position, showing an improvement of three points from 2017, out of the list of 180 countries.
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.
REASONS FOR GROWTH OF WHITE-COLLAL CRIMES IN INDIA:
- GREED-
- EASY, SWIFT AND PROLONG EFFECT
- COMPETITION
- LACK OF STRINGENT LAWS
- LACK OF AWARENESS
- NECESSITY
COMMON TYPES OF WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES IN INDIA:
- Bribery
- Cybercrime
- Bank Fraud
- Money Laundering
- Tax Evasion
- Identity Theft
WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES IN DIFFERENT PROFESSION:
- In Medical And Health:
# Making of false medical certificates by the doctors.
# Fake and intended prolong the treatment in order to increases the bills.
# Sex discrimination of the child by the doctors on the compulsion of the patient to gain money.
# Delaying of time by doctors to increase the amount of money in the bills.
# Sale of sample medicines which are not allowed to the chemists.
- In Legal Profession:
# Fabrication of forged documents.
# Threatening the witnesses of the other party.
# Violation of ethical standard of legal profession to gain money.
- In Education:
# Collecting huge sums of money in the name of donations by students in order to give them admission.
# Merit based admission is replaced by donations.
# Collect huge amount of money in the name of government grants.
LEGISLATIONS AGAINST WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES IN INDIA:
Government has made various legislation for identifying white collar crime. These legislation contains punishment regarding these crimes.
# Companies Act, 1960.
# Income Tax Act, 1961.
# Indian Penal Code, 1860.
# Commodities Act, 1955.
# Prevention of corruption Act, 1988.
# Negotiable Instrument Act,
# Prevention of money laundering Act, 2002.
# IT Act, 2005.
# Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1950.
CONCLUSION:
White collar crimes are the crimes which cause a harm to the economy of the country as a whole. It threatens the country’s economy by bank frauds, economic thefts, evasion of tax etc. It not only affects the financial status of a country or a person but It has also a negative impact on the society. The various crimes such as bribery, corruption, money laundering has affected society in a negative way.
# There is no proper definition of White-collar crime in Indian laws. These socio-economic crimes should not be taken leniently by the government.
# Punishment regarding White collar crime should be stricter as harsh punishment can prevent these crimes to a great extent.
# If the crime is very heinous the punishment might also be extended to life imprisonment.
# People are not aware about most of these crimes so the public awareness through any communication medium is also necessary.
# Government should impose strict regulations regarding economic thefts of the country.
Aishwarya Says:
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