Cheque bounce cases need to be tackled with firm hand, says court

 Cheque bounce cases are unduly clogging the dockets of the courts and need to be tackled with a heavy hand, a Delhi court has said.

The observation came as the court awarded a one-year jail term to 42-year-old north Delhi resident, Lalit Kumar, who had issued a Rs 1 lakh cheque to an army officer’s wife, which had bounced.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on Kumar with a direction that it be given to the complainant.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ashok Kumar said cheque bounce cases were “unduly clogging the dockets of the courts leading to docket explosion and extraction of judicial time which could have been given to other cases”. The court also said that due to the dishonest issuance of cheques, the credibility of such instruments was “eroding”.

“Such dishonest conduct leads not only to docket explosion, which needs to be tackled with a heavy hand, but also has resulted in harassment of the complainant, holding up the valuable money belonging to her,” it said.

The court also said the complainant “suffered a lot of harassment and had to launch and sustain the prosecution for a long period of  denial of the legally recoverable amount due to her.” According to the complainant, the accused had issued a cheque in December 2014 for a sum of Rs 1 lakh, which got dishonoured due to “insufficient funds”.

The accused further failed to make the payment of the amount, despite service of the notice.

Kumar, however, had pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial.