Jharkhand High Court: Amitav K. Gupta, J. acquitted the petitioners of the charges on an amicable settlement between the parties.
The relevant facts of the case are that the petitioner has been convicted for the offence under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, by the court of Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Jamshedpur and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment of 18 days and pay the compensation of Rs 31,000 under Section 357 (3) CrPC. The said judgment and conviction has been affirmed in Criminal Appeal by the Sessions Judge, East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur. Hence the instant criminal revision.
The counsel Ashok Kumar Yadav for the petitioner submitted that in compliance of the order dated 31-01-2020, amount of Rs 31,000 has been paid. The counsel P. Mitra for the complainant submitted that amount has been handed over by the petitioner and since the entire amount has been paid he does not want to proceed with the case. The Court relied on the judgment titled Meters & Instrument (P) Ltd. v. Kanchan Mehta; (2018) 1 SCC 560 held that the object of the provision of the Negotiable Instrument Act is primarily compensatory and the court can in the interest of justice discharge the accused on amicable settlement of the matter. In view of the above arguments the petitioner is acquitted of the charges and the judgment dated 08.05-2019 is set aside. [Alok Kumar v. State of Jharkhand, Cr. Revision No. 694 of 2019, decided on 06-03 2020]
