Shopian court sentences man to 2-year jail, fine in cheque bounce case

Shopian, Apr 27: A court in south Kashmir’s Shopian district has convicted a man in a seven-year-old cheque bounce case, sentencing him to two years of simple imprisonment and imposing a fine and compensation of over Rs 23 lakh, court documents showed.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Shopian Rayaz Ahmed Choudhary convicted Bashir Ahmad Sheikh under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, which deals with dishonour of cheques due to insufficient funds or payment stop instructions.

According to the judgment, the case stemmed from a 2019 complaint filed by Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, who alleged that Sheikh issued him a cheque of Rs 11.5 lakh in connection with an apple trading transaction that later bounced.

The complainant told the court that Sheikh had purchased apple produce from him and made partial payments, while the remaining liability was settled through the cheque, which was later dishonoured by the bank with remarks citing insufficient funds and payment stoppage by the drawer.

The cheque was presented in May 2019 and a statutory demand notice was issued in June the same year, the court noted.

Sheikh denied the allegations, arguing that there was no legally enforceable debt and claiming the cheque had been misused amid a business dispute over apple supplies. His defence witnesses also suggested partial payments had been made and questioned the outstanding liability.

However, the court held that the issuance of the cheque and its dishonour were established, and that statutory presumptions under the law operated in favour of the complainant. It observed that the accused failed to produce documentary proof of repayment or adequately rebut the presumption of liability.

“The defence raised by the accused is not probable and remains unsupported by evidence,” the court said, adding that mere denial was insufficient to dislodge the legal presumption under the law governing negotiable instruments.

The court also noted that the accused did not enter the witness box or provide bank records to substantiate claims of repayment.

Sheikh was sentenced to two years in jail and directed to pay Rs 23 lakh—twice the cheque amount—along with 8% annual interest from the date of issuance of the cheque and Rs 50,000 as additional compensation to the complainant. Failure to pay would attract further imprisonment and recovery proceedings, the court ordered.