THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE JUVVADI SRIDEVI

CRIMINAL PETITION No.11959 of 2024

O R D E R

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C.

by the petitioner-accused seeking to quash the proceedings against him in C.C.No.7196 of 2022 (old C.C.No.141 of 2017) pending on the file of the learned IV Additional Junior Civil Judge- cum-IV Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class (Juvenile Court) at Hanumakonda (for short ‘trial Court’), registered for the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act,

1881 (for short the ‘Act’).

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to as

per their array in the trial Court.

3. Heard Mrs. C.Jyotsna Devi, learned counsel for the accused. Inspite of service of notice, there is no representation for

respondent No.2-complainant. Perused the record.

4. The brief facts of the case are that the accused and complainant are relatives. In view of their relationship, on the request of accused, the complainant advanced a hand loan of Rs.50,000/- to meet his legal necessities on 15.11.2016. On the same day, the accused issued a post-dated cheque bearing

No.000024 for Rs.50,000/- and requested the complainant to present the same after 20 days. When the said cheque was presented for clearance by the complainant on 26.12.2016, the same was returned with an endorsement ‘payment stopped by drawer’. Thereafter, the complainant got issued a statutory legal notice to the accused on 09.01.2017 and the same was received by the accused on 13.01.2017. The accused replied on 23.01.2017 with all false contents but he did not repay the amount within the stipulated time. Therefore, complaint under Section 138 of the Act was filed by the complainant against the accused.

5. Learned counsel for the accused submits that the accused is the father-in-law of the complainant’s daughter, and there are family disputes between them. In the course of resolving matrimonial issues between the son of the accused and his wife, a panchayat was convened in the presence of elders on 04.12.2016. During the said panchayat, on the direction of elders, the accused handed over a cheque of Rs.50,000/-, leaving the name column blank, as a security deposit, to the complainant. The complainant misused the said cheque with a malafide and vexatious intent to file the present complaint against the accused. Despite the accused having sufficient balance and his request to the Bank not to entertain the cheque, it was presented and misused. Aggrieved by such misuse, the accused lodged a complaint against the complainant for the offences under Sections 405, 406, 420, 506 and 211 of IPC, which is pending as C.C.No.243 of 2017 before the learned VI Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate at Warangal. There is no legally enforceable debt or liability or any commercial transaction between the parties. The complainant and his daughter have filed multiple cases against the accused and his family members solely to pressurize them to settle the matrimonial disputes and to defame them. Hence, she prayed to quash the proceedings against the accused.

6. As seen from the record, it is evident that there are triable issues and the truth or otherwise of the allegations levelled against the accused can only be decided after conducting full- fledged trial by the trial Court. All the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the accused shall be raised before the trial Court, during the course of arguments.

7. In view of the above, this Court is not inclined to quash the proceedings against the petitioner-accused at this stage and the present criminal petition is liable to be dismissed.

8. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is dismissed. However, since the case is of the year 2017, the trial Court shall dispose of the main case as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with law, without being influenced by any of the observations made by this Court in this order. The parties and their counsel shall co-operate with the expeditious dispos