JUDGMENT :

This appeal is filed under section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (‘Cr.P.C.’ for short) by the complainant in a proceeding for the offence punishable under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act (‘N.I. Act’ for short). The question that arises in this appeal is whether the learned Sessions Judge correctly applied section 23 of the Indian Contract Act for allowing the appeal filed before him under section 374(3) of Cr.P.C. for reversing the judgment of conviction passed by the Magistrate.

2. If the events are briefly traced, the marriage between the complainant and Pradeep Kumar, the son of the accused was held on 21.10.2012. Their marriage was very short lived, they stayed together only for three days. Then on 5.11.2012, the complainant and Pradeep Kumar entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) as per Ex.P.6 for dissolving their marriage. One of the stipulations of the MoU was that the accused agreed to return the marriage expenses of Rs.5,00,000/- to the complainant and in that regard he issued a cheque (Ex.P.1) bearing No.217264 dated 5.1.2013 for Rs.5,00,000/- to the complainant. It was a post-dated cheque. When it was presented to the bank for enca