Justice Sandeep Sharma while accepting the prayer of the petitioner to compound the offence under Section 147 of the NI Act, noted that Section 147, coupled with the guidelines laid down in Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Babalal H. (2010) case empowers the court to compound the offence after the recording of a conviction.
BRIEF FACTS
The present application has been filed u/s 482 CrPC by the applicant/accused for compounding the offence u/s 147 of the NI act and for acquittal.
The complaint was instituted by respondent/complainant u/s 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against the accused as a cheque bearing 283466 dated 25.08.2016, which was issued by him in favor of the complainant was dishonored on account of insufficient funds at UCO Bank, Jubbal, district Shimla on 17.11.2016. As the proceeding took place, the trial court held the accused guilty and sentenced him to imprisonment for 6 months with a compensation of Rs. 1.20 Lakh.
An Appeal was filed by the accused which was dismissed and then another appeal was filed u/s 397 and 401 CrPC by way of Cr. Revision no. 332 of 2021 which was also dismissed on 10.11.2022.
After passing of the above-mentioned order, the accused compromised with the respondent, whereby he paid Rs.50,000/- in cash to the learned counsel for the respondent, and qua Rs. 70,000/- was deposited with the learned trial Court.
On account of the aforesaid settlement, the accused has approached this court in the instant application filed under S.482 CrPC, praying therein for compounding of the offence under S.147 of the NI Act.
OBSERVATION OF THE COURT
This Hon’ble court observed that the accused is convicted for the offence u/s138 of the NI act for which he was convicted and compensation was ordered to be paid. The Court then relied on the apex court’s judgment in ‘Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Babalal’, according to which this HC upheld the judgment of conviction and sentence recorded by the trial court though sec.147 of NI act and further observed that as per the guidelines laid down in this case, it empowers the court to compound offence after recording conviction hence no obstruction was there in accepting the prayer.
JUDGEMENT OF COURT
The application was disposed of, as the matter was ordered to be compounded and the order of sentence of learned courts was quashed. Further, the amount of Rs,70,000, deposited by the accused in favor of the respondent in the learned trial court was ordered to be released through the formal application.
CASE TITLE: Naresh Kumar v. Trilok Chand
CORAM: Justice Sandeep Sharma
CASE NO.: CrMP no. 508 of 2023 in Cr. Revision no.332 of 2021
ADVOCATE FOR APPELLANT : Advocate Mr. Ravinder Singh Chandel
ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT ;Advocate Mr. Kulbhushan Khajuria
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