K.ABDUL LATHEEF Vs. SONY SEBASTIAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition to condone the delay of 661 days in filing petition seeking leave to file appeal against the judgment dtd. 30/9/2021 passed by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Tirur, in S.T.No.83/2020.

(2.) The petitioner is the complainant. Respondent No.1 is the accused. The petitioner filed a complaint alleging offence punishable under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against respondent No.1. Respondent No.1 was acquitted for the reason that the petitioner failed to appear before the Court.

(3.) The impugned judgment was passed on 30/9/2021. The learned counsel submitted that the petitioner remained in judicial custody from August, 2021 to 4/12/2021. The impugned judgment acquitting respondent No.1 was passed while the petitioner was in jail. The case of the petitioner is that he had entrusted a lawyer by name P.K. Mohammed Shafi, to file the petition seeking leave to appeal. The petitioner was on the bonafide belief that Adv. Mohammed Shafi had filed the petition seeking leave to appeal. The submission of the petitioner is that only in January, 2024, he came to know the fact that the petition seeking leave was not filed by the lawyer with whom the case was entrusted.