Regarding cheque bounce case

Section 138 of NI Act, 1881 provides for fine upto double the cheque amount and imprisionment of 2 years or both.

It is discretionary power of the Trial Court for award of punishment, which will depend upon various factors such as previous history, dependency of convict etc.

what is the case?          

Dear Gayatri,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your questions.

The short answer to your question is NO. There is no certainty that the accused will be imprisoned for six months.

The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, is the legislation that pertains to cases of cheque bounce. Section 138 of the same act defines a case of cheque bounce to be when any cheque drawn by a person on an account maintained by them with a banker, for the purpose of discharging or fulfilling any debt or liability they have with another person, is returned by the bank unpaid, either due to insufficient money in the account or because it exceeded the amount of money that was agreed to paid by the bank from that account as per any agreement made with the bank.

The same section also lists out the punishment to be given in a case of cheque bounce. As per the same, if a person is found guilty of a case of cheque bounce, they could be imprisoned for a term not more than two years, or with a fine which may extend up to twice the amount of money in the cheque, or both.

Therefore, there is no certainty that the accused, if found guilty, will be imprisoned for a term of six months, as it is up to the discretion of the court to decide whether they should be punished with imprisonment, or fine, or both.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

Regards,

Aadil