Rs 18 Lakh Fine, One Year Term For Cheque Defaulter

Srinagar: A government employee was sentenced to one year imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 18 lakh in a cheque bounce case by a local court here, which said such matters were unduly increasing pendency leading to “extraction of judicial time”.
The court of 1st Additional Munsif made the observations while awarding one year imprisonment to Shamsul Haq son of Bashir Bhat, a resident of Paln Bandipora in North Kashmir, for not having sufficient funds in the bank account due to which cheques issued by him to complainant Shabir Ahmed Mantoo son of Ghulam Muhammad of Jablipora Bijbehara were returned unpaid in 2014.
A complaint had filed in the court by Shabir Mantoo through his counsel Advocate Babar Qadri alleging that Shamsulhaq, a trainer at Entrepreneruship Development Institute (JKEDI) had issued him cheques in August 2014 for Rs 14 lakh.
When the complainant according to news agency CNS presented the cheques for encashment at Jammu Kashmir Bank Shalimar Branch, they were dishonoured and a legal notice was sent to the accused.
“Such dishonest conduct leads not only to docket explosion which needs to be tackled with a heavy hand but also has resulted in harassment of the complainant, holding up the valuable money belonging to him,” the court said.
The court said since the complainant has suffered lot of harassment and had to launch and sustain prosecution for a long period, hence the fine be paid to her as compensation.
The Court directed District Magistrate Srinagar to attach the property of the absconding accused to compensate the complainant. It also directed IGP Kashmir to trace the absconding accused within a month.

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