Kurukshetra woman gets two-year rigorous imprisonment in cheque bounce case

The court also directed the convict, Anita Devi of Jatta village, Kurukshetra, Haryana, to pay back ₹6.8 lakh to the complainant, Poonam Singh of Sector 24, Chandigarh

Four years after a loan cheque for ₹10.5 lakh presented by a woman to her cousin was dishonoured, a local court on Monday sentenced the former to two years of rigorous imprisonment.

According to the case files, in 2018, the complainant had loaned ₹10.5 lakh to the accused, who had assured to return the money within a year. However, the signed cheque presented by her was not honoured by the bank. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The court of judicial magistrate first class Riffi Bhatti, also directed the convict, Anita Devi of Jatta village, Kurukshetra, Haryana, to pay back ₹6.8 lakh to the complainant, Poonam Singh of Sector 24, Chandigarh.

According to the case files, in 2018, Singh had loaned ₹10.5 lakh to Devi, who had assured to return the money within a year. However, the signed cheque presented by Devi was not honoured by the bank, following which she was booked under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act.

In her plea, the accused claimed that the cheque signed by her was stolen and that she had reported the matter to police. However, the court observed that was no record that of her either reporting the matter to the Haryana Police or her instructions to the bank to stop payment.

On the other hand, the complainant had proved on record that the cheque in question was issued by the accused under her signature in discharge of her legally recoverable liability.