P S SETHURAMAN Vs. P ELAVAZHAGAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner and the Respondent herein are the accused and complainant respectively in C.C. No. 259 of 2007 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate, Ariyalur. The revision Petitioner herein is facing trial for an alleged offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The cheque amount involved is Rs. 5 lakhs. The Petitioner herein filed a petition before the trial Court under Section 258 r/w 320 Code of Criminal Procedure with a prayer to treat the compromise memo filed by the parties dated 07.10.2008 as compounding petition and to stop all the proceedings of the case and to discharge the accused. The said petition was dismissed by the learned Magistrate. Aggrieved by the order passed by the learned Magistrate, the Petitioner has preferred this criminal revision petition before this Court.

(2.) According to the accused/Petitioner herein, the parties have filed a compromise memo on 07.10.2008 before the trial Court and in the memo it was stated that the complainant already acknowledged the receipt of the Demand Draft and agreed to accept the balance of Rs. 2 lakhs. Subsequently, when the last due of Rs. 50,000/- was paid through Demand Draft, the Respondent refused to receive the said demand draft on 23.11.2009 and hence a memo was filed on 23.11.2009 and thereafter, the learned Counsel for the Respondent received the demand draft for Rs. 50,000/- and acknowledged the same in the memo filed by the Petitioner. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that after the complainant receiving the cheque amount of Rs. 5 lakhs as full and final settlement, ought to have withdrawn the complaint under Section 257 Code of Criminal Procedure or ought to have filed a petition to compound the offence as per Section 147 of Negotiable Instruments Act. But the complainant/Respondent herein had failed to do so and in order to harass the accused proceeded with the trial which amount to abuse of process of the Court.

(3.) The learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner relied on a decision of the Honourable Bombay High Court , Usha Badri Ponnawalla v. Kurien Babu and another, 2006 CrLJ 618 He also relied on another decision of this Honourable High Court M.O. Hasan Kuthoos Maricar Ltd., A v. Agate Madras International Finance Limited and another,2009 LW(Cri) 71