The appellant, who is the original complainant in Summary Criminal Case 241/1999 instituted under the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1981 (“Act” for short) is aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 12-7-2005 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Malkapur acquitting respondent 1original accused.

2. Heard Shri A.S. Mardikar, learned Senior Advocate for the appellant, Shri K.S. Narwade, learned Advocate for respondent 1 and Shri V.P. Maldhure, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent 2.

3. The submission of the learned Senior Advocate Shri A.S. Mardikar is that the learned Magistrate failed to appreciate the correct import and implication of the statutory presumption under Section 139 of the Act. The learned Magistrate committed a serious error in recording a finding that the statutory presumption is rebutted by the accused, is the submission. The learned Senior Advocate places reliance on the judgments in (i) Rangappa v. Sri Mohan reported in (2010) 11 SCC 441 and (ii) T. Vasanthakumar v. Vijayakumari reported in (2015) 8 SCC 378.

Per contra, Shri K.S. Narwade, learned Advocate, relying on the judgments in (i) K.N. Beena v. Muniyap