Dishonor Of Cheque Given As Security Attracts Section 138 NI Act, Cases of ‘Account Closed’ And ‘Payment Stopped’ Also Covered: Delhi HC
Case: Payal Malhotra v. Sulekh Chand
Coram: Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar
Case No.: W.P.(CRL) 1366/2023
Court Observation: “…not only the cases of dishonour of cheques on account of insufficient funds or exceeding of arrangement but the cases involving dishonour of cheques on accounts of “payment stopped” and “account closed” have also been brought within the ambit of offence under the aforesaid provision.”
“…this Court does not find any material on record which can be stated to be of sterling and impeccable quality warranting invocation of the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.PC at this stage. More so, the defence as raised by the petitioner in these petitions requires evidence, which cannot be appreciated, evaluated or adjudged in the proceedings under Section 482 of Cr.PC and the same can only be proved in the Court of law.”
“The High Court cannot usurp the powers of the Metropolitan Magistrate and entertain a plea of accused, as to why he should not be tried under Section 138 of the N.I. Act. This plea, as to why he should not be tried under Section 138 of the N.I. Act is to be raised by the accused before the Court of the Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 251 of the Cr.PC & under Section 263(g) of the Cr.PC.”
“If an accused has a defence against dishonour of the cheque in question, it is he alone who knows the defence and responsibility of spelling out this defence to the Court and then proving this defence is on the accused.”
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Keywords
Dishonor Of Cheque, Section 138 NI Act, Delhi High Court
