https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=297077 A complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, when the complainant is absent, is governed as far as may be by Section 256 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The power to dismiss the complaint or acquit the accused in default is discretionary and must be exercised judicially, not mechanically. A single non-appearance, without more, should not justify a hyper-technical dismissal where the matter can be decided on merits, and the Magistrate must consider adjournment or any other course permitted by law. On these principles, dismissal for default was held unsustainable and was set aside. en-us Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 18 Aug 2021 09:26:01 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=297077 A complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, when the complainant is absent, is governed as far as may be by Section 256 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The power to dismiss the complaint or acquit the accused in default is discretionary and must be exercised judicially, not mechanically. A single non-appearance, without more, should not justify a hyper-technical dismissal where the matter can be decided on merits, and the Magistrate must consider adjournment or any other course permitted by law. On these principles, dismissal for default was held unsustainable and was set aside. Case-Laws Indian Laws Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=297077