Court convicts man in cheque bounce case

Shopian, Dec 18: A local court in Shopian has convicted a man in a five lakh rupee cheque dishonour case and ordered one year of simple imprisonment along with compensation to the complainant. The judgment was delivered by the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shopian, in a case titled Shahnawaz Ahmed Bhat versus Bashir Ahmed Bhat.
As per the judgment, the complainant Shahnawaz Ahmed Bhat had alleged that the accused Bashir Ahmed Bhat, a resident of Bongam Shopian, had issued a cheque of five lakh rupees in September 2018 towards a financial liability arising out of work they were undertaking together. The cheque was presented in the J&K Bank HR Shopian branch but was returned unpaid with the remark “Exceeds Arrangement.” The complainant later issued a demand notice, which the court found to have been duly served.
After a detailed trial involving multiple witnesses, the court held that the statutory requirements under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act had been fully met. The judgment notes that the accused failed to rebut the legal presumption regarding liability and could not prove that the cheque was lost or misused. The court concluded that the cheque had been issued in discharge of a legally enforceable debt.
The court sentenced the accused to simple imprisonment for one year and imposed a fine of ten thousand rupees. It further directed him to pay the cheque amount of five lakh rupees along with six percent interest from the date of issuance, in addition to fifty thousand rupees as compensation to the complainant.
The court also cancelled the bail bonds of the accused and ordered that he be taken into custody and lodged in District Jail Pulwama. [KNT]