Man sentenced to one-year jail in cheque-bounce case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 19

Pratibha Mahla, Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Chandigarh, has sentenced a person, Tarsem Kumar, to undergo one year of simple imprisonment in a cheque-bounce case filed by his father Bachan Lal Goyal. The court also directed the accused to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh equivalent to the cheque amount to his father.

In a complaint filed through counsel Ajay Sepehia, the complainant, Bachan Lal Goyal, said in order to discharge his part of the liability, the accused issued a cheque for Rs 5 lakh drawn on State Bank of Patiala, Grain Market, Chandigarh, on July 28, 2018. The cheque was presented for encashment, but it got dishonoured due to “insufficient fund” in the account.

The complainant said a legal notice was also served on his son, but he did not respond to it. In the complaint, he said he gave a loan of Rs 5 lakh to his son as a financial help.

The accused, however, claimed that his cheque was misused by his father.

The counsel for the accused argued before the court that he was falsely implicated in the case as the very basis of the existence of the legal liability/debt had not been specifically mentioned in the complaint as to when the alleged financial help was given to him. Bachan Lal did not mention any year, date or month in the complaint.

The counsel further argued that in fact it was a security cheque for Rs 5 lakh, which was retained by the complainant pursuant to the family meeting dated July 18, 2018 for getting the matter settled from the SDM Court for de-sealing a SCF in Sector 26, Chandigarh, and getting the name of the accused entered in the Estate Office records. But the cheque was misused by the complainant alleging advancement of financial assistance. Till date, the share of the property purchased by the accused had not been transferred to his name because of objections by the complainant.

After hearing the arguments, the court said the convict had evaded the payment of outstanding liability in the best possible manner. Moreover, the conduct led to harassment to the complainant. In view of this, the convict, Tarsem Kumar, was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year for the commission of offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The convict was further directed to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation equivalent to the cheque amount in terms of Section 357 (3), CrPC, to the complainant within two months. In default of the payment of compensation within the above said period, the convict would have to further undergo simple imprisonment for two months.

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