M P ABDUL NAZAR Vs. S V DILEEPKUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) What are the ramifications of the right to silence -- the glorious right to silence as it is often referred to, in a criminal prosecution under S.138 of the N.I. Act Is S.315 of the Cr.P.C. applicable in such a prosecution These questions arise for consideration incidentally in this revision petition.

(2.) This revision petition is directed against a concurrent verdict of guilty, conviction and sentence in a prosecution under S.138 of the N.I. Act.

(3.) The cheque is for an amount of Rs. 20,000/-. Signature in the cheque is admitted. The cheque was dishonoured on the ground of insufficiency of funds. Notice of demand, though duly received and acknowledged, did not evoke any response. No defence evidence whatsoever was adduced before the Trial Court. The complainant examined himself as PW 1 and proved Exts.P1 to P11. At the stage of trial, a contention was raised that the cheque was not issued voluntarily for the discharge of any legally enforceable debt/liability. Some miscreants had trespassed into the house of the accused. The father of the accused owed amounts to some of those miscreants in some transaction. They forcibly compelled the accused to sign blank cheques and they took them away. One of those cheques is misutilised to foist this false complaint. This, in short, is the defence urged.