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2021 (12) TMI 841
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....ate Court has confirmed judgment dated 04.03.2017, rendered by Special Metropolitan Magistrate (N.I. Act Cases) No.1, Jodhpur Metro (for short, 'learned trial Court'). The learned trial Court, by its verdict dated 04.03.2017, indicted accused-petitioner for offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short, 'Act') and handed down sentence of one year's simple imprisonment. Besides imprisonment, the learned trial Court has also ordered that accused-petitioner should pay fine to the complainant to the tune to Rs. 6,80,000/- and in default of payment of compensation to further undergo two months' simple imprisonment-. Being aggrieved by the same, petitioner approached learned appellate Court but that effort did not f....
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....unts. A complete procedure in this behalf is provided under Section 138 to 147 of the Act. Section 142 deals with cognizance of offence and Section 143 empowers a Court to try cases under Section 138 of the Act summarily. As per Section 147 of the Act, every offence punishable under the Act is compoundable notwithstanding anything contained in the Cr.P.C. While it is true that the offence is compoundable but a pivotal question, which has emerged for consideration, is whether revisional powers can be exercised by this Court to compound the offence under Section 138 of the Act after conviction of the petitioner by appellate Court. The legal position in this behalf was fluid until the judgment rendered in Damodar S. Prabhu Vs. Sayed Babalal H.....
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....provision for imprisonment up to one year, which was revised to two years following the amendment to the Act in 2002. It is quite evident that the legislative intent was to provide a strong criminal remedy in order to deter the worryingly high incidence of dishonour of cheques. While the possibility of imprisonment up to two years provides a remedy of a punitive nature, the provision for imposing a `fine which may extent to twice the amount of the cheque' serves a compensatory purpose. What must be remembered is that the dishonour of a cheque can be best described as a regulatory offence that has been created to serve the public interest in ensuring the reliability of these instruments. The impact of this offence is usually confined to ....
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....tage of the proceedings. Accordingly, we find no reason to reject the application under Section 147 of the aforesaid Act even in a proceeding under Article 136 of the Constitution." It is evident that the permissibility of the compounding of an offence is linked to the perceived seriousness of the offence and the nature of the remedy provided. On this point we can refer to the following extracts from an academic commentary [Cited from: K.N.C. Pillai, R.V. Kelkar's Criminal Procedure, Fifth Edn. (Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 2008) at p. 444]: "17.2 Compounding of offences,- A crime is essentially a wrong against the society and the State. Therefore, any compromise between the accused person and the individual victim of the crime sh....
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....rtain guidelines for a graded scheme of imposing costs on parties, who unduly delay compounding of the offences. Framing the guidelines, the Court held: "With regard to the progression of litigation in cheque bouncing cases, the learned Attorney General has urged this Court to frame guidelines for a graded scheme of imposing costs on parties who unduly delay compounding of the offence. It was submitted that the requirement of deposit of the costs will act as a deterrent for delayed composition, since at present, free and easy compounding of offences at any stage, however belated, gives an incentive to the drawer of the cheque to delay settling the cases for years. An application for compounding made after several years not only results in....
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....en petitioner and the complainant, I feel persuaded to exercise revisional jurisdiction for doing real and substantial justice in the matter for the administration of which alone the Courts exist. Accordingly, I prefer to give priority to the compensatory aspect of remedy over the punitive aspect in the matter in the wake of settlement of dispute and compromise being arrived at between the rival parties. In view of foregoing discussion, the instant revision petition is allowed, impugned judgment dated 21.05.2019 passed by learned appellate Court as well as judgment dated 04.03.2017 passed by the learned trial Court are set at naught as a consequence of compromise having been arrived at between the rival parties and while acknowledging the....