Prosecution u/s 276C/277: Burden of proving absence of mens rea is upon accused

Arun Arya Vs. ITO (J&K High Court) Under the Income-Tax Act, 1961 there are various provisions for compliance with taxing provisions and the collection of taxes. The Income-tax Act seeks to enforce tax compliance in a three fold manner; namely 1) Imposition of interests 2) Imposition of penalties and 3) Prosecutions. In the fight against tax evasion, monetary penalties are not enough. When a calculating tax dodger finds it a profitable proposition to carry on evading taxes over the years, if the only risk to which he is exposed is a monetary penalty in the year in which he happens to be ca...