MUTHUMANI Vs. V. SHANMUGAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE submissions made by Mr.T.A.Ebenezer, learned counsel for the petitioner were heard. The grounds of revision, certified copy of the judgments of the courts below and other connected papers filed by the petitioner in the form of typed set of papers were also perused.

(2.) THE sole accused in STC No.3967 of 2007 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Tirunelveli, is the revision petitioner in the present Criminal Revision Case. The said Criminal Case was instituted on a private complaint by one V.Shanmugam, the respondent herein in whose favour the petitioner allegedly gave a cheque for Rs.30,000.00 in discharge of a debt which was dishonoured when presented for collection. During the pendency of the trial, the said V.Shanmugam died and his son Ramachandran was impleaded to represent him as the complainant. At the end of trial, the learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Tirunelveli came to the conclusion that the revision petitioner herein was proved to have committed an offence punishable under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, convicted her for the said offence and punished her with simple imprisonment for six months. The learned Judicial Magistrate also directed payment of Rs.30,000.00 (the cheque amount) as compensation to the respondent with a further direction that in default of payment of compensation, the revision petitioner should undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of three months.

(3.) THE case of the complainant is that the revision petitioner/accused on 7.5.2005 borrowed a sum of Rs.30,000.00 for her family expenses and for the improvement of her tailoring and T.V.Mechanic Training Institute she was running, promising to repay the same within six months from the date of borrowal and failed to repay the same within the said period of six months. The further case of the complainant is that when the revision petitioner/accused was approached after the said period of six months and demanded repayment of the amount borrowed by her, she issued a cheque dated 05.06.2007 drawn on Indian Overseas Bank, Tirunelveli Junction Branch for a sum of Rs.30,000.00; that when the said cheque was presented for collection through the City Union Bank, the same was returned without payment with the endorsement "Insufficient Funds "; that on receipt of the intimation regarding the dishonour of the cheque, the complainant issued a statutory notice on 21.06.2007 demanding payment of the cheque amount; that though an intimation was given to the revision petitioner/accused regarding the receipt of a registered tapal, she did not claim it and that since the revision petitioner/accused did not make payment of the cheque amount as demanded in the notice and did not even issue any reply, the complainant was constrained to file a complaint under section 200 Cr.P.C. for prosecuting and punishing the revision petitioner/accused for an offence under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Following the private complaint procedure, the same was taken on file in STC No.3967 of 2007 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Tirunelveli.