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Criminal Liability of Corporation in India

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Criminal Liability of Corporation: An Indian Perspective
Manjeet Kumar Sahu*

Abstract
Current Supreme Court’s decision have made the stand apparently clear in India that the Corporation can be prosecuted as a separate legal entity even in the offences where the punishment is imprisonment. This Paper explains the present status of India on Corporate Criminal Liability and how judicial decision is inconsistent with the legal provisions. It further provides the current situation about the corporate criminal liability in the International scenario. The apex court’s decision under various matters reflects the gravity of the concerned problem i.e being faced by the aggrieved parties. The Concept of “No soul to kick” has become obsolete and applicability of lifting the corporate veil has unveiled the sheath. The current research on this subject have been included and it is substantiated with the effect of recent Supreme Court’s judgement and also focused on the dilemmatic situation of the Court’s decision. Keywords: Corporation, Criminal Liability, Judicial Decision, Legal provision, International Scenario, Dilemmatic Situation.

Introduction
A company can only act through human beings and a human being who commits an offence on account of or for the benefit of a company will be responsible for that offence himself. The importance of incorporation is that it makes the company itself liable in certain circumstances, as well as the human beings. ---------Glanville Williams The basic rule of criminal liability revolves around the Latin maxim actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea. It means that to make one liable it must be shown that act or omission has been done which was forbidden by law and has been done with guilty mind. Hence every crime has two elements one physical known as actus reus and other mental known as mens rea 1.This is the rule of criminal liability

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