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Dashrathbhai Trikambhai Patel vs. Hitesh Mahendrabhai Patel & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 1067Decided 11 Oct 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1497 of 2022
Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud · Hima Kohli · Dr D Y Chandrachud

Background

The appellant claimed he had lent the first respondent Rs. 20 lakhs and received a cheque for that amount as repayment/security, which was dishonoured for insufficient funds when presented in April 2014. The respondent argued he had already partly repaid the debt (Rs. 4,09,315 paid in instalments between 2012 and 2013) and that the appellant's notice demanding the full cheque amount, without accounting for this part-payment, was legally invalid. Both the trial court and the Gujarat High Court accepted the respondent's defence and acquitted him, leading the appellant to approach the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that for an offence under Section 138 to be made out, the cheque must represent a "legally enforceable debt" at the time it matures for encashment, not merely on the date it was drawn. Since the respondent had made part-payments reducing the actual debt before the cheque was presented, and since the appellant's cheque and demand notice did not account for or endorse this part-payment (as required under Section 56 of the Act), the cheque no longer represented the true outstanding sum. The Court laid down that any part-payment made between drawing and encashment of a security cheque must be endorsed on the cheque itself before it can validly be presented for the balance; an unendorsed cheque presented for the original, now-inflated sum cannot sustain a Section 138 prosecution. The appeal was accordingly dismissed and the acquittal upheld.

Lesson Learnt

If you receive partial repayment on a loan secured by a post-dated cheque, you must formally endorse that part-payment on the cheque (or take a fresh cheque for the reduced balance) before presenting it: simply depositing the original cheque for the full original amount can defeat a later cheque-bounce criminal case.

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

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