Help in cheque boucne

The present date's status is that a cheque is valid only for three months and earlier it was valid only for six months from the date of its issue, therefore the case is likely to be dismissed or accused is likely to be acquitted.

This is the new item about Bombay HC Judgment  for direction to test the age of writing .Justice Potdar directed the magistrate's court to refer the disputed cheque to an expert "to determine the age of the ink used for signature so also the age of the ink used for filling up of other particulars and call for the report of the expert within three months".

Vishwajit Pardesh (37), a resident of Jalna, had filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, that cheques issued to him by Aurangabad resident Baburao Munnemanik had been dishonoured.

Under the law, when a cheque drawn by a person to discharge a liability is returned by the bank due to insufficient funds, it constitutes a criminal offence. The person can face up to two years in prison and/or a fine amount of twice the amount mentioned in the cheque.

Munnemanik filed an application before the magistrate, seeking expert opinion on the age of the ink used on the cheque. When his plea was dismissed by the magistrate's court and subsequently the sessions court, he moved the HC.

Munnemanik admitted that the signature on the cheque was his, but disputed that it was issued to discharge a liability. According to Munnemanik's lawyers, he had issued a blank signed cheque to Pardesh as security but the latter had misused it and filled in other details.

They said it was necessary to determine the age of ink used for the signature and the age of the ink used to fill up other details. The lawyers referred to a Supreme Court judgment that for a ''fair trial'' the magistrate could order an inquiry and refer a disputed cheque to a handwriting expert.

The HC agreed and ordered that the cheques be sent to an expert.

Hearing a petition filed by a 53-year-old man who had issued the cheque, Justice A V Potdar struck down an order passed by the subordinate court, which had refused to send the cheque for expert opinion

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