Revision allowed; conviction and sentence under Section 138 NI Act set aside as cheque did not discharge legal debt
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....The HC allowed the revision, set aside the conviction and sentence under Section 138 NI Act, and quashed the appellate court's affirmance. The courts below had presumed the cheque discharged a legal liability because issuance was undisputed, but that rebuttable presumption was displaced by evidence that the underlying debt was to a differently licensed entity; the cheque payable to the complainant's firm did not legally discharge the debt. Absent a legally enforceable debt, jurisdiction to try and convict under Section 138 was lacking. The revisional jurisdiction properly remedied the jurisdictional error and patent legal defect, warranting acquittal of the accused.....
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