RANCHI, India, Jan. 8 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on Dec. 8:
1. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the matter is arising out of Section 138 of NI Act and the learned Judicial Magistrate, XXII, Ranchi, by the judgment dated 07.08.2023 passed in Complaint Case No. 9742 of 2021 has been pleased to hold guilty and the petitioner has been sentenced to undergo S.I. for fifteen months and also imposed a fine of Rs. 15,00,000/- in the form of compensation for having committed the offence under Section 138 of the N.I. Act and in default of payment of compensation amount, the petitioner will undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months. He further submits that the said judgment of learned trial court has been challenged before the learned Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi, in Criminal Appeal No. 165 of 2023, whereby the learned first appellate court has been pleased to dismiss the said appeal by order dated 02.03.2024 by way of upholding the order of the learned trial court.
2. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that the matter is arising out of Section 138 of NI Act and the complaint case has been filed for dishonour of cheque. He submits that now the good sense has prevailed between the parties and the case has been compromised between the parties and the entire amount i.e. Rs. 15 lakhs has already been paid to the complainant-O.P. No. 2. He next submits that the compromise petition has been brought on record by way of filing I.A. No. 8169 of 2025. He then submits that since the matter is arising out of NI Act, which is compoundable in nature in light of Section 147 of the said Act, in view of that, the petitioner may kindly be put at liberty.
3. Learned counsel appearing for the complainant-O.P. No. 2, on instruction submits that the compromise has reached between the parties and the entire amount i.e. Rs. 15 lakhs has already been received by the complainant-O.P. No. 2 and further the complainant does not want to proceed with the matter any further. He next submits that the I.A. filed in the form of compromise, separate affidavit has been filed by both the side and further in light of Section 147 of NI Act, the matter may be disposed of.
4. Learned A.P.P. appearing for the State submits that the compromise has taken place and the case is arising under Section 138 of NI Act and further the case is compoundable under Section 147 of the NI Act.
5. In view of the above discussions and further considering the rival submissions of the respective parties and in view of the compromise arrived at between the parties, which has been brought on record by way of filing I.A. No. 8169 of 2025 and the case is compoundable in nature in light of Section 147 of the NI Act, this court allows the case to be compounded. Reference may be made to the case of New Win Export & Anr. Versus A. Subramaniam, reported in (2024) SCC OnLine SC 1741, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court in paras-6 and 7 has held as follows:-
"6. At this juncture, we would also like to reiterate a few words regarding the principles of compounding of offences in the context of NI Act. It is to be remembered that dishonour of cheques is a regulatory offence which was made an offence only in view of public interest so that the reliability of these instruments can be ensured. A large number of cases involving dishonour of cheques are pending before courts which is a serious concern for our judicial system.
*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=bzPoyUlszYLCUcCpirIpqNec8NndlL%2FbdrpgXj14oBnw9HAAoAtId%2BQAE3D3YJ5O&caseno=Cr.Rev./427/2024&cCode=1&cino=JHHC010125862024&state_code=7&appFlag=)
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