SHABEG SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of Crl. Misc. No. 62415 of 2013 in/and Crl. Revision No. 3245 of 2012 and Crl. Revision Nos.3246 and 3247 of 2012, as common questions of law and facts are involved in all the petitions.

(2.) THE petitioner has been convicted in aforesaid three complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years in each case. He is required to undergo six years in total. The petitioner is 67 years of age and is handicapped to the extent of 80%. He has suffered this disability in Indo -Pak war in the year 1971 and now is unable to perform his daily routine activities.

(3.) AS per the documentary evidence (Ex.CW1/1), the petitioner made an application to the Gas Agency stating that he will sell some land or will get the loan from his friend for a sum of Rs. 5,00,000/ - for the said purpose. His affidavit (Ex.CW1/4) is to the effect that he has taken a loan of Rs. 5,00,000/ - with simple rate of interest at 12% per annum from his friend Tarsem Lal son of Dharam Lal, resident of Algo Kothi, Tehsil Patti, District Amritsar (complainant -respondent No. 2). The signatures on the cheques were admitted and there is no complaint to any authority that the said cheques had been misused. Thereafter, presumption under Section 139 of the N.I. Act, was drawn against the accused, as he had miserably failed to rebut the presumption.