A photocopy of a lost cheque can serve as secondary evidence in legal proceedings as per the Indian Evidence Act, allowing for provisional acceptance until the original is produced.

The prayers in this OP(Crl.) are as follows:-

“(i) Direct the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court-1, Aluva, to accept the photocopies of the documents produced and to issue summons to the respondent, if it is in accordance with law in every other details in Crl.M.P.No.1527/2022 pending before that Court. (ii) Grant such other reliefs to the petitioner, as this Honourable Court may deem appropriate, in the interest of justice.”

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor. Notice to respondent No.2 is dispensed with.

3. The petitioner is the complainant in CRMP No.1527 of 2022 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Aluva. In the complaint, he alleges offence under Section 138 of the NI Act against respondent No.2. It is alleged that respondent No.2 issued a cheque for Rs.11,00,000/- drawn on the State Bank of India, Thrissur in discharge of a legally enforceable debt, which was dishonoured unpaid due to insufficiency of funds in his account.

4. The learned Magistrate proceeded under Section 200 of Cr.P.C. The petitioner filed an affidavit as provided under Section 145 of the Negotiable Instruments Act . Along with the complaint, the petitioner had produced the photocopy of the cheque. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that on 11.07.2022 the learned Magistrate directed the complainant to produce the original cheque. It is submitted that the original cheque and the other relevant documents were misplaced among some other documents. It is submitted that he is not in a position to produce the original cheque and other related documents within a reasonable time.

5. The grievance of the petitioner is that the learned Magistrate is insisting for the production of the original cheque even before taking cognizance of the offence.

6. The specific case of the petitioner is that the original cheque happened to be misplaced among some other documents. The petitioner is taking earnest efforts to locate the original cheque. The petitioner apprehends that he may not be in a position to locate the original cheque in reasonable time.

7. Therefore, the learned counsel prayed for directing the learned Magistrate to provisionally admit the copy of the cheque as secondary evidence for the time being, till the original is traced out.

8. As per Section 65 (c) of the Indian Evidence Act , when the original of a document has been destroyed or lost or when the party offering evidence of its contents cannot, for any other reason not arising from his own default or neglect, produce it in reasonable time, secondary evidence is admissible. In the present case, the original of the cheque in question is stated to be misplaced.

9. Therefore, the learned Magistrate is directed to provisionally admit the copy of the cheque in question in the enquiry under Section 200 Cr.P.C. It is made clear that the admissibility of the copy of the cheque is open to challenge by the person arrayed as accused, in case the learned Magistrate decides to take cognizance of the offence alleged and issue process.

The original petition is disposed of as above