The court upheld the convictions under Section 138 of the NI Act, affirming that dishonoring a cheque constitutes a criminal offense.

ORDER

The concurrent findings of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court (NI Act cases), Kozhikode, and the Sessions Court, Kozhikode, convicting and sentencing the petitioner for the commission of offence under Section 138 of the NI Act, are under challenge in this revision. As per the impugned judgment rendered in C.C.No.839 of 2015 on 29.08.2016, the learned Magistrate sentenced the petitioner to pay fine Rs.87,155/- with a default clause of Simple Imprisonment for three months. The Appellate Court upheld the above verdict and dismissed the appeal, which the petitioner had filed as Crl.A.No.391 of 2016.

2. The case relates to the dishonour of a cheque for an amount of Rs.87,155/- executed and issued by the petitioner towards the repayment of a debt which he incurred with the complainant / 1^st respondent. Before the Trial Court, the 1^st respondent and one witness tendered oral evidence as PWs 1 and 2. Eight documents were produced and marked in evidence from the part of the 1^st respondent. The petitioner did not opt to adduce any defence evidence. It is after the evaluation of the aforesaid evidence that the learned Magistrate found the petitioner guilty of commission of offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act . The Appellate Court made a reappraisal of the entire evidence and concurred with the findings of the learned Magistrate.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned counsel for the 1^st respondent and the learned Public Prosecutor representing the State of Kerala.

4. On going through the impugned judgments of the courts below and the case records, it is seen that the courts below have rightly arrived at the findings that the petitioner committed the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act . There is absolutely no reason to interfere with the above concurrent findings of the courts below. It is to be noted that the courts below awarded the sentence which is perfectly reasonable, and commensurate with the gravity of the offence committed by the petitioner. While imposing the fine of Rs.87,155/-, the Trial Court specifically directed that, if the fine amount is realised from the petitioner, it shall be paid as compensation to the complainant under Section 357 (1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure . The aforesaid sentence was also upheld by the Appellate Court.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner may be given a reasonable time for the remittance of the aforesaid fine amount.

6. Having regard to the above request of the learned counsel for the petitioner, I deem it appropriate to grant six months time for the petitioner to remit the fine amount imposed by the courts below.

In the result, the revision is disposed of as follows :-

(i) The concurrent findings of the courts below, convicting and sentencing the petitioner for the commission of the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act , are hereby confirmed. (ii) In partial modification of the sentence awarded, the petitioner is granted a period of six months from today to remit the fine amount of Rs.87,155/- (Rupees eighty seven thousand one hundred and fifty five only) before the Trial Court.

(iii) If the petitioner had already deposited any amount as a condition precedent to admit the appeal or revision, he needs to remit only the balance amount after adjusting the said amount from the total fine of Rs.87,155/-.

(iv) In the event of failure of the petitioner to remit the fine amount within the period prescribed above, he will undergo Simple Imprisonment for a period of three months.

(v) The direction of the courts below to pay the fine amount to the complaina