What is relevance of printed pro forma date on cheque leaf in dishonour of cheque case?
finding of the learned Magistrate and learned Sessions
Judge. The High Court found that the cheque was
actually from the cheque book that was issued prior to
2000 as the cheque leaf itself mentioned the date in
printed ink as “__/__/199__”. The High Court observed
that it is hard to believe that a business transacting
party would give a cheque which is of the decade 1990
in relation to the transaction in 2007. The High Court
accepted the argument of the defendant that the
Complainant used the old cheque due to ill will because
of denial of the defendant firm to release the film
“Pokari” in his theatre.
In the present case since the cheque as
well as the signature has been accepted by the accused
respondent, the presumption under Section 139 would
operate. Thus, the burden was on the accused to
disprove the cheque or the existence of any legally
recoverable debt or liability. To this effect, the
accused has come up with a story that the cheque was
given to the complainant long back in 1999 as a
security to a loan; the loan was repaid but the
complainant did not return the security cheque.
According to the accused, it was that very cheque used
by the complainant to implicate the accused. However,
it may be noted that the cheque was dishonoured because
the payment was stopped and not for any other reason.
This implies that the accused had knowledge of the
cheque being presented to the bank, or else how would
the accused have instructed her banker to stop the
payment. Thus, the story brought out by the accused is
unworthy of credit, apart from being unsupported by any
evidence.
Further, the High Court relied heavily on the
printed date on the cheque. However, we are of the view
that by itself, in absence of any other evidence,
cannot be conclusive of the fact that the cheque was
issued in 1999. The date of the cheque was as such
20/05/2006. The accused in her evidence brought out
nothing to prove the debt of 1999 nor disprove the loan
taken in 2006.
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTON
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.728 OF 2015
(Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 8091 of 2011)
T. VASANTHAKUMAR ...APPELLANT
:Versus:
VIJAYAKUMARI ...RESPONDENT
Citation;(2015) 8 SCC378
https://www.lawweb.in/2015/11/what-is-relevance-of-printed-pro-forma.html
