Valid presentment of cheque required for Section 138 liability; stale cheque returned outdated could not sustain conviction.

A cheque must be presented to the drawee bank within its valid period to sustain criminal liability under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Presentation only to the complainant's collecting bank was held insufficient where the cheque had become stale and was returned as outdated. Because valid presentment was not satisfied, no cause of action arose for prosecution, and the concurrent findings below were treated as suffering from a jurisdictional defect. The conviction and sentence were set aside, and the accused was acquitted.

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Issues: Whether a conviction under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act could be sustained when the cheque was presented beyond its period of validity and was returned as stale, despite presentation to the complainant's bank within time.

Analysis: The cheque was issued on 21.10.2017 and, on the Court's findings, had to be presented to the drawee bank within the prescribed validity period. Presentation to the complainant's collecting bank was held to be insufficient for attracting criminal liability under Section 138. Since the cheque was returned with the endorsement of instrument outdated or stale, the essential requirement of valid presentment was not satisfied and no cause of action arose for prosecution under the Act. The concurrent findings of the courts below were held to suffer from a jurisdictional defect because they overlooked the legal effect of stale presentment.

Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were set aside and the accused was acquitted.

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