In a criminal revision petition filed before the Karnataka High Court under Section 438 read with Section 442 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) against a judgment dated 28-06-2023 by the trial court as well as a judgment dated 17-02-2026 by the appellate court, a Single Judge Bench of Justice H.P. Sandesh set aside the impugned judgments and acquitted the petitioner of the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NI Act).
Since the complainant and accused had known each other for several years, the accused approached the complainant for financial assistance of Rs. 1,50,000/-, agreeing to return the same within 15 days and also issued a post dated cheque. The complainant had not presented the said cheque within the due date and presented the same on 05-12-2018, but it was dishonoured as ‘funds insufficient’. Hence, the legal notice was issued and upon the accused person’s failure to repay the amount, a complaint was filed under Section 138 of the NI Act.
The trial court concluded that the complainant had proved the existence of a legally enforceable debt as well as the liability existing on the accused and convicted the accused. Subsequently, the appellate court also concluded that the trial court had rightly convicted the accused and confirmed the judgment of the trial court. Hence, the present revision petition.
The Court took note of a letter by the Reserve Bank of India dated 04-11-2011, which disclosed that the period within which cheques/drafts/pay orders/banker’s cheques are presented for payments was reduced from 6 months to 3 months. Exercising powers conferred by Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the RBI directed that w.e.f. 01-04-2012, banks should not make payment of said instruments if they are presented beyond 3 months from the date of issuance of such instrument.
It was stated that in the present matter, the subject matter of the cheque was presented on 05-12-2018 and the cheque was dated 13-06-2018. Hence, the Court found it to be clear that the cheque was presented after the statutory period fixed by RBI and that the trial court as well as the appellate court had not taken note of this fact. The Court held that since the validity of the cheque was only for 3 months, there could not be any proceedings under Section 138 of the NI Act since the subject matter of the cheque was presented after three months.
Thus, the revision petition was allowed and the impugned judgment of conviction by the trial court as well as the confirmation by the appellate court were set aside while acquitting the petitioner.
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