SUNDAR RAJAN Vs. JASBIR KAUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition under Sec. 482 read with Sec. 444 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'the Cr.P.C.') for quashing of impugned order dtd. 25/7/2022 (Annexure P-12) passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Ludhiana, whereby the application filed by the petitioner under Sec. 444 of the Cr.P.C. for discharging him as a surety of accused/respondent No.2 in Criminal Complaint No.COMA/4800+ 4801 of 2014 titled as 'Jasbir Kaur Vs. Mrs. Kalai Selvy Rasiah' has been dismissed.

(2.) Power of attorney has been filed by learned counsel for respondent No.1 in the Court today which is taken on record.

(3.) Brief facts of the case are that respondent No.1 preferred 04 complaints against respondent No.2 under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 with the allegations that the cheques issued by respondent No.2 got dishonoured upon presentation. On his non-appearance before the Trial Court, respondent No.2 was declared proclaimed offender on 9/5/2017 and she was arrested on 12/2/2018 and sent to judicial custody. The bail applications filed by respondent No.2 was dismissed by the Trial Court. Thereafter, she approached this Court and filed 04 petitions bearing No. CRM-M-31362, 31409, 31414 and 31423 of 2018. The petitioner stood as surety of respondent No.2 and ready to deposit Rs.1.00 crore before the Trial Court for grant of bail to respondent No. 2. The Coordinate Bench of this Court allowed the above-said petitions vide order dtd. 30/8/2018 and granted bail to respondent No.2 subject to deposit of Rs.1.00 crore with the Trial Court. Aggrieved against the above-said order, respondent No.2 preferred SLP (Crl.) No.8618 of 2018 before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in which Hon'ble Supreme Court directed to deposit an amount of Rs.50.00 lakhs instead of Rs.1.00 crore. The present petitioner submitted 02 demand drafts amounting to Rs.49,85,840.00 and Rs.14,160.00 respectively (total amounting to Rs.50.00 lakhs) before the Trial Court, upon which the Trial Court released respondent No.2 on bail. Thereafter, some disputes raised between the petitioner and respondent No.2 and the petitioner has filed application under Sec. 444 of the Cr.P.C. before the Trial Court for discharging him as surety of respondent No.2 which was dismissed by the Trial Court vide impugned order dtd. 25/7/2022.