law: Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956
  24.Offences by
  
  companies .-
  (1) Where an offence
  
  has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time when the offence
  
  was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the
  
  conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed
  
  to be guilty of the offence, and shall be liable to be proceeded against and
  
  punished accordingly;
  Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person
  
  liable to any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence
  
  was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to
  
  prevent the commission of such offence.
  (2) Notwithstanding
  
  anything contained in sub-section (1) , where an offence under this Act has
  
  been committed by a company and is proved that the offence has been committed
  
  with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any gross negligence
  
  on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the
  
  company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company,
  
  shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be
  
  proceeded against and punished accordingly.
  Explanation.- For the purpose of this section, -
  (a) 'company' means
  
  any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals, and
  (b) 'director', in
  
  relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.