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ANSS Rajashekar v. Augustus Jeba Ananth

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 59Decided 18 Jan 2019
Criminal Appeal Nos. 95-96 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The complainant alleged the accused had borrowed Rs. 15 lakhs and issued a cheque for Rs. 5 lakhs towards repayment, which bounced for insufficient funds. The accused's defence was that the cheque was one of several blank cheques handed over for an unrelated purpose (securing a housing loan) and was later misused amid a property dispute between the two families. The case went back and forth between the trial court, first appellate court, and the Karnataka High Court across multiple rounds, acquittal, then conviction on remand, then acquittal on appeal, then conviction again by the High Court, before reaching the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined whether the accused had rebutted the statutory presumption under Section 139 of the Act (that a cheque is presumed issued for a debt unless proven otherwise), applying the "preponderance of probabilities" standard from its earlier ruling in Rangappa v. Sri Mohan. It found serious inconsistencies in the complainant's own evidence, contradictory amounts of the alleged loan, no proof of the source of funds, and failure to explain two other cheques allegedly taken earlier, which the first appellate court had rightly relied on to acquit. The High Court's judgment reversing that acquittal was found to contain no real appreciation of evidence. The Supreme Court therefore allowed the appeal and restored the acquittal.

Lesson Learnt

Even though the law presumes a cheque was issued for a genuine debt, an accused can defeat that presumption simply by showing the complainant's own account of the transaction is inconsistent or unproven: a court must actually examine the evidence before overturning an acquittal, not just invoke the presumption mechanically.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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