Budgam, March 9: A court in Budgam on Monday convicted a man from Beerwah in a cheque bounce case and sentenced him to one year of simple imprisonment after finding him guilty under provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The conviction was pronounced by Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam Abdul Bari in connection with a complaint filed by Mohammad Amin Hajam, who alleged that the accused had issued cheques which were later dishonoured due to insufficient funds.
According to the court order, the case relates to the year 2018 when the accused, identified as Riyaz Ahmad Khan of Aripanthan Beerwah, issued cheques to the complainant which were returned unpaid upon presentation.
In a detailed 34-page judgment, the court observed that the complainant had successfully established the case beyond reasonable doubt and proved that the cheques issued by the accused were dishonoured due to insufficient balance in his bank account.
The court also noted that despite receiving a statutory legal notice, the accused failed to make the payment within the stipulated period of 15 days.
Observing that all the ingredients required to establish the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act had been fulfilled, the court held the accused guilty for committing the offence.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court convicted the accused and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year.
The court as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust also imposed a financial penalty directing the accused to pay the cheque amount of Rs 30 lakh along with interest at the rate of six percent from the date of issuance of the cheque till the date of the judgment.
According to the court calculation, the interest component amounts to Rs 10,35,000, taking the total payable amount to Rs 40,35,000.
The court directed that the total fine amount be paid to the complainant within one month after the expiry of the statutory period available for filing an appeal or after the disposal of the appeal, if any.
It further ordered that in case the accused fails to pay the fine amount within the stipulated period, he shall undergo an additional simple imprisonment of three months.
Following the conviction, the accused was taken into custody and handed over to the Superintendent of Central Jail Srinagar to serve the sentence.
Advocate M.M. Jan represented the complainant in the case. [KNT]
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