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Rahul Sudhakar Anantwar v. Shivkumar Kanhiyalal Shrivastav

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 1173Decided 21 Oct 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1598 of 2019
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

The appellant and the respondent entered into a property sale agreement, under which the respondent paid an advance of Rs. 2,50,000. When the deal fell through, the appellant issued a refund cheque from a firm's bank account, but the cheque bounced with the endorsement "Account Closed." The Trial Court acquitted the appellant, holding the account belonged to a third person, not him, but the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) reversed this and convicted him under Section 138, imposing a fine of Rs. 5,00,000 plus Rs. 20,000 costs.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, agreeing with the High Court that the appellant had not disputed his own signature on the cheque and had failed to rebut the statutory presumption under Section 139 of the N.I. Act that the cheque was issued to discharge a legally enforceable debt. However, the Court found the compensation amount excessive given the actual cheque value of Rs. 2,50,000, and reduced the amount payable from Rs. 5,00,000 to Rs. 2,80,000 (plus the Rs. 20,000 costs already ordered), directing adjustment of amounts already paid and return of the balance with interest to the appellant.

Lesson Learnt

Once you admit your signature on a dishonoured cheque, the law presumes it was issued for a genuine debt, and the burden shifts to you to disprove that: mere claims about the cheque being "stolen" or belonging to someone else's account are not enough without supporting evidence. Courts can also moderate compensation under Section 138 to keep it proportionate to the actual cheque amount, even while upholding a conviction.

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

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