Ramesh Kumar Singh vs State of Jharkhand

Anil Kumar Choudhary, J

Heard the parties.

This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with the prayer to quash the entire criminal proceedings including the order dated 18.09.2019 passed in C/1 Case No.2758 of 2019 by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that no witness has been examined during the trial and charge has also not been framed and the case is at the stage of appearance of the accused person of the case.

The brief fact of the case is that the petitioner issued a cheque to the complainant in lieu of financial establishment. The cheque was of Rs.8,35,000/- which was dishonoured upon being presented by complainant in his bank account. In spite of notice of demand for payment of the cheque amount, the said amount was not paid by the petitioner. Hence, the complainant filed the complaint basing upon which the learned Judicial Magistrate has found prima facie case for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the N.I. Act and passed the summoning order.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is innocent and has not committed any offence. It is next submitted that the allegation against the petitioner is false. It is also submitted that the case of the prosecution is highly improbable. Hence, it is submitted that the prayer, as prayed for in the instant Cr.M.P., be allowed.

Learned Addl.P.P. appearing for the State and the learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 on the other hand vehemently oppose the prayer of the petitioner made in the instant Cr.M.P. and submit that the undisputed fact remains that the petitioner has issued the cheque of Rs.8,35,000/- which upon being presented in the bank by the complainant, has been dishonoured and even after being served with the notice for demand of payment of the cheque amount, the petitioner has not paid the same. Hence, the same is sufficient to constitute the offence punishable under Section 138 of the N.I. Act. Therefore, it is submitted that this Cr.M.P., being without any merit, be dismissed.

Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, this Court finds that the only contention of the petitioner for quashing the entire criminal proceeding is that the allegation against him is false and the case of the prosecution is highly improbable. It is a settled principle of law that no mini trial can be conducted by the High Court in exercise of the power under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure to get into the appreciation of the evidence of the particular case, as has been reiterated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of State of Uttar Pradesh & Another vs. Akhil Sharda & Others reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 820 relevant portion of which reads as under:-

“Having gone through the impugned judgment and order passed by the High court has set aside the criminal proceedings in exercise of powers under Section 482 CrPC, it appears that the High Court has virtually conducted a mini trial, which as such is not permissible at this stage and while deciding the application under Section 482CrPC. As observed and held by this court in a catena of decisions, no mini trial can be conducted by the High Court in exercise of power under Section 482CrPC, jurisdiction and at the stage of deciding the application under Section 482CrPC, the High Court cannot get into appreciation of evidence of the particular case being considering.” (Emphasis supplied)

This Court finds that if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true, the same is sufficient to constitute the offence punishable under Section 138 N.I. Act as undisputedly the petitioner has issued the cheque of Rs.8,35,000/- in favour of the complainant and the same was dishonoured because of insufficiency of funds in the account and in spite of being served with the notice demanding the payment of the cheque amount, the petitioner has not paid the said amount to the complainant. This, in the considered opinion of this Court, is prima facie sufficient to constitute the offence punishable under Section 138 of N.I. Act and the plea of the defence which has been raised by the petitioner can be agitated by the petitioner before the trial court.

Under such circumstances, this Court do not find any justifiable reason to quash the entire criminal proceedings including the order dated 18.09.2019 passed in C/1 Case No.2758 of 2019 by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in exercise of its power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Accordingly, this Cr.M.P., being without any merit, is dismissed.

In view of disposal of the instant Cr.M.P., the interim relief granted vide order dated 19.09.2022, is vacated.

Registry is directed to intimate the court concerned forthwith.