JHARKHAND HIGH COURT ISSUES ORDER ON RAJ KUMAR PODDAR V/S THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND ANR.

RANCHI, India, March 28 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on Feb. 25:

1. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that this petition has been preferred against the Judgment dated 27.01.2024 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur in Cr. Appeal No.169 of 2023, whereby the learned Sessions Judge has been pleased to allow the appeal preferred by the respondent against the Judgment dated 07.07.2023 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Jamshedpur in C/1 Case No.3597 of 2021, by which, the learned Court has been pleased to set-aside the acquittal and convicted the petitioner under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act and sentenced to undergo S.I. for one month and fine of Rs.1,000/- and compensation of Rs.1,00,000/- to be paid to the complainant.

3. He submits that the matter is arising out of Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act and now a good sense has been prevailed between the parties and both have compromised the matter and for that compromise petition in form of I.A. No.2997 of 2026 has been filed. He next submits that in terms of compromise, bank draft of Rs.1,00,000/- has already been deposited by the petitioner before the learned Registrar General. He submits in view of that this matter may kindly be disposed of.

4. Learned counsel appearing for the State submits that the case is arising out of Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act.

5. The learned counsel appearing for the opposite party No.2, who is the complainant accepts the submissions of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and submits that the compromise has taken place and the bank draft deposited by the petitioner in the Office of learned Registrar General may kindly be directed to hand it over to the opposite party No.2 after revalidating the same.

6. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that he will obtain the said bank draft from the office of learned Registrar General and after revalidating the same, will hand over to the Opposite Party No.2/ complainant before 15th March 2026.

7. Since the compromise has taken place, that is allowed to be compounded. Reference may be made to New Win Export and another Vs. A. Subramaniam reported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 1741, wherein it is held in Para 6 and 7, which read as under.

"6. At this juncture, we would also like to reiterate a few words regarding the principles of compounding of offences in the context of NI Act. It is to be remembered that dishonour of cheques is a regulatory offence which was made an offence only in view of public interest so that the reliability of these instruments can be ensured. A large number of cases involving dishonour of cheques are pending before courts which is a serious concern for our judicial system. Keeping in mind that the 'compensatory aspect of remedy shall have priority over the 'punitive aspect', courts should encourage compounding of offences under the NI Act if parties are willing to do so. (See: Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Babalal H. (2010) 5 SCC 663, Gimpex Private Limited v. Manoj Goel (2022) 11 SCC 7052, Meters And Instruments Private Limited v. Kanchan Mehta (2018) 1 SCC 5602)

7. In Raj Reddy Kallem v. The State of Haryana [2024] 5 SCR 203, this Court followed the same principles and quashed a conviction under the NI Act, by invoking its powers under Article 142, even though the complainant therein declined to give consent for compounding, observing that the accused has sufficiently compensated the complainant."

8. In view of the submissions of the learned counsel appearing for the parties and in view of the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in New Win Export (Supra), the case is allowed to be compounded in light of Section 147 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

9. The petitioner is directed to approach the office of the learned Registrar General and the learned Registrar General will hand over the said bank draft to the petitioner and the petitioner, after revalidating the same, will hand over the same to the opposite party No.2/complainant before 15th March 2026.

10. In view of the above, the petitioner is acquitted by setting aside the Judgment dated 27/01/2024, passed in Criminal Appeal No.169 of 2023 by learned Session Judge, East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur.

11. This petition is allowed in the above terms.

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