The Former Member of Parliament and actress Jayaprada has been sentenced to six months in jail, following a judgement over her failure to comply with the statutory mandate to pay contributions due to the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) with respect to employees working in a cinema theatre owned by her.
A report written by Bar Bench talked about it and we take reference from that story for our write up here.
As per the ESIC, while the management of the now defunct cinema theatre owned by Jayaprada had been deducting ESI amount dues from the workers’ dues, it had not been paying the money to the state insurance corporation. The verdict was given by the Egmore Court in Chennai.
Jayaprada and her brothers Ramkumar and Raj Babu were partners of Jayaprada Cinema, which went defunct around 10 years ago.
Under Section 40 of the ESI Act, the principal employer is required to pay towards the employer’s share of contribution, and the employees’ share of contribution. The principal employer is entitled to recover from the employees, their share of contribution from their wages.
“The nature of crime is socio–economic offence. Therefore, the offence committed is heinous and deplorable. I would, therefore, uphold and maintain the conviction of the Accused under Section 85 (1) (b) of the Employees State Insurance Act. Hence, the Pleas of the Accused are dismissed. In view of the aforesaid discussion and on balancing aggravating and mitigating circumstances, in my opinion, the present case does not fall under the category of to show leniency case i.e. there is no alternative but to impose sentence. It is a fit case, where the Accused should be directed to suffer sentence Since the gravity of the offence is serious, no leniency could be considered,” the Metropolitan Magistrate C Sundarapandian said.
The Court also directed Jayaprada and her two brothers to pay a fine of ₹5,000 each.
