Crime doesn't pay for man who took 51 cents 24 years ago
A court in India sentenced a 75-year-old doctor to three months in jail for accepting a 51-cent bribe 24 years ago.
Talk about crime not paying.
Balgovind Prasad accepted the 25 rupees, or 51 cents, from a sweeper in 1985 for issuing a fake medical certificate, police told Reuters.
The case dragged on for years in India, which obviously has a slow judicial system, and Prasad was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to one year in jail.
He appealed and was freed during the appeal, which dragged on until now.
On Tuesday, a higher court in India's eastern state of Bihar state reduced the sentence to three months, saying the bribe amount was too small, and directed police to take Prasad into custody to begin serving his jail time.
His lawyer told reporters that Prasad thought he would get a reprieve from the court because the bribe was so small and the case was so old.
Not in India, where a 50-cent bribe will get you jail time.
