CHANDRA PRAKASH DHARMAWAT Vs. LAHRI LAL PALIWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Criminal Revision Petition under Ss. 397 r.w. 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been instituted assailing the judgment dtd. 16/4/2022 rendered by the learned Special Judge, Prevention of Atrocities Cases, in Criminal Appeal No. 54/2019 (CIS No. 56/2019), whereby the appellate court dismissed the appeal preferred by the petitioner and affirmed the judgment dtd. 23/10/2019 passed by the learned Special Judge, NI Act Cases No. 03, in Criminal Case No. 294/2016 (CIS No. 3582/2016). By the said judgment, the learned trial court convicted the petitioner for the offence punishable under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, and sentenced him to undergo one year's simple imprisonment along with payment of compensation amounting to Rs.75,000.00, with a further stipulation that in default of payment of the said amount, the petitioner shall undergo three months' simple imprisonment.

(2.) The factual matrix, as discernible from the record, reveals that the respondent-complainant instituted a complaint alleging that the petitioner and the respondent had been acquainted with each other for a considerable period of time and shared cordial relations. It was alleged that the petitioner had borrowed a sum of Rs.4,60,000.00 from the respondent and, in purported discharge of the said liability, issued six cheques of varying dates and amounts drawn on IndusInd Bank.

(3.) This Court has heard the learned counsel appearing for the respective parties and has perused the record of the case with due circumspection.