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2022 (3) TMI 1096 - HC - Indian LawsDishonor of Cheque - discharge of legally enforceable debt or not - rebuttal of presumption - misuse of cheque - forgery - HELD THAT:- It is trite law that once issuance of a cheque and signature hereon are admitted, presumption of a legally enforceable debt in favour of the holder of the cheque arises. It is for the accused to rebut the said presumption, though accused need not adduce his own evidence and can rely upon the material submitted by the complainant, however, mere statement of the accused may not be sufficient to rebut the said presumption. While imposing sentence on the accused after his conviction, it is to be kept in mind that the sentence for offence under Section 138 of NI Act should be of such nature as to give proper effect to the object of legislation and no drawer of the cheque can be allowed to take dishonour of cheque issued by him light heartedly. The Magistrate can alleviate the grievance of the complainant by making resort to Section 357(3) Cr.P.C. wherein no limit of compensation to be awarded by the Magistrate has been mentioned and, thus, the Magistrate is empowered to impose a reasonable amount of compensation payable to complainant - In the instant case, the revisionist has taken different stands with regard to the cheque in question. It was stated that the cheque in question was lost and a complaint in this regard was also lodged in the year 2014 but the original complaint has not been placed on record by the revisionist. The revisionist neither informed the concerned bank about the cheque in question, which got stolen nor requested the bank to get the payment stopped against the said cheque, which shows his malafides. The revisionist has also taken the plea that the cheque in question was handed over to one Pankaj Bhalla and the same got stolen. As far as the contention of the revisionist that he is a stranger to the respondent No. 2 and that he has no legal liability towards him, is concerned, the revisionist has failed to rebut the presumption in favour of the complainant and the mere statement by the revisionist in itself is insufficient to raise suspicion with regards to the entire case of prosecution. There are no infirmity in the impugned Judgment - revision petition dismissed.
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