Dismissed¶66

Baldev Singh v. Bhagat Singh

Himachal Pradesh HC23 Apr 2026CR.R/496/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Baldev Singh v Bhagat Singh, HP High Court Cr. Revision No.496 of 2024 (decided 23.04.2026): Section 138 NI Act conviction and sentence upheld; cheque dishonour ‘Funds Insufficient’; presumptions under Sections 118 and 139 unrebutted; security cheque encashable and maintainable under Section 138 (Sripati Singh v. State of Jharkhand); limited revisional jurisdiction under Section 397 Cr.P.C. (State of Kerala v. Puttumana Illath Jathavedan Namboodiri; Krishnan v. Krishnaveni); Kullu/Banjar; revision dismissed, petitioner directed to surrender, bail bonds cancelled, interim order of 21.08.2024 vacated.

What did the court decide?

Both Courts below meticulously dealt with each and every aspect of the matter in appreciating the evidence; there is no scope left for revisional interference with their concurrent findings. ¶22

Baldev Singh Vs Bhagat Singh — Cheque Dishonour | Himachal Pradesh HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Dismissed

¶66

Issue for consideration

Whether the judgments of conviction and sentence recorded by the Courts below under Section 138 of the Act were erroneous and should be set aside to secure the petitioner-accused’s acquittal. +3 more

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Court's answer

Both Courts below meticulously dealt with each and every aspect of the matter in appreciating the evidence; there is no scope left for revisional interference with their concurrent findings.

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Ratio / Principle

The presumptions under Sections 118 and 139 of the Act were rightly invoked because the accused, in his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C., nowhere disputed the factum of his having issued the Cheque and his signatures thereupon.

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Key takeaways

The accused’s defences — that the money was returned in the presence of Jagdev, Geeta Nand and Shetu Ram Hawaldar, and that the Cheque was issued as security and misused — were never probabilised, as he failed to examine the named persons or lead any evidence despite opportunity.ratio¶40
This Court saw no reason to differ with the findings of the Courts below that the complainant successfully proved on record that the accused had issued the Cheque towards discharge of his lawful liability.ratio¶40
By now it is well-settled that a Cheque, even if issued as a ‘security’, can be presented for encashment if the amount taken or promised to be repaid is not paid; accordingly the security-cheque defence was of no help to the accused.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Himachal Pradesh High Court (Sandeep Sharma, J., oral) — Cr. Revision No.496 of 2024, decided 23.04.2026: dismissed. Revision filed under Sections 438 and 442 BNSS 2023 challenged the Sessions Judge, Kullu judgment dated 02.05.2024 (Criminal Appeal No.23 of 2023) affirming the JMFC Banjar conviction and sentence dated 12.05.2023 (case No.418/19/14) of the petitioner under Section 138 NI Act — two months simple imprisonment and Rs.2,50,000/- compensation. Issuance of Cheque No.084777 dated 19.08.2014 for ₹2,00,000/- (dishonoured ‘Funds Insufficient’) and the accused’s signatures were undisputed in his Section 313 Cr.P.C. statement; the presumptions under Sections 118 and 139 stood unrebutted — the pleas of repayment before named witnesses and of the cheque being mere misused security were never probabilised for want of evidence. A security cheque, where the amount taken or promised remains unpaid, matures for presentation and its dishonour attracts Section 138 (relying on Sripati Singh v. State of Jharkhand); the Act defines no ‘security cheque’ exception. Revisional jurisdiction under Section 397 Cr.P.C. being limited and supervisory (relying on State of Kerala v. Puttumana Illath Jathavedan Namboodiri; cf. Krishnan v. Krishnaveni), no error of law or fact and no material irregularity was found — judgments below upheld; petitioner directed to surrender forthwith, bail bonds cancelled, interim order dated 21.08.2024 vacated.

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2026:HHC:13255

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA

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Cr. Revision No.496 of 2024

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Date of Decision: 23.04.2026

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__________________________________________________________________________ Baldev Singh ……...Petitioner Versus Bhagat Singh …....Respondent Coram

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Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Sharma, Judge.

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Whether approved for reporting?

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_____________________________________________________________________________ For the Petitioner: Mr. Naveen K. Bhardwaj, Advocate. For the Respondent: Mr. Jagat Paul, Advocate. __________________________________________________________________________ Sandeep Sharma, J. (Oral)

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Instant criminal revision petition filed under Section 438 read with Section 442 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, lays challenge to judgment dated 02.05.2024, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Kullu, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, in Criminal Appeal No.23 of 2023, titled as Baldev Singh Vs. Bhagat Singh, affirming judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 12.05.2023, passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Banjar, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, in case No.418/19/14, whereby the learned trial Court while holding the petitioner-accused (hereinafter, “ accused” ) guilty of having committed offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (in short the “Act"), convicted and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two months and pay compensation to the tune of Rs.2,50,000/- to the respondent-complainant.

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Precisely, the facts of the case, as emerge from the record are that respondent-complainant (hereinafter, ‘complainant’) instituted a complaint under Section 138 of the Act, in the competent Court of law, alleging therein that having taken note of his friendly relations with accused, he in the month of May, 2014 and 2015, gave loan of ₹2,00,000/to the accused. Though accused assured complainant to repay the amount within a period of two months, but since aforesaid amount was not paid, accused with a view to discharge his liability issued Cheque bearing No.084777 dated 19.08.2014 for sum of ₹2,00,000/- in favour of complainant towards the discharge of lawful liability, but fact remains that aforesaid Cheque on its presentation to the Bank concerned, was dishonoured with the remarks “Funds Insufficient”. After receipt of aforesaid return memo, complainant served accused with a legal notice calling upon him to make the payment good well within stipulated time. However, since petitioner-accused failed to make the payment good within the time stipulated in the legal notice, respondent/complainant was compelled to initiate proceedings under Section 138 of the Act in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Banjar, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.

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Learned trial Court on the basis of material adduced on record by the respective parties, vide judgment/order dated 12.05.2023, held the petitioner-accused guilty of having committed offence under Section 138 of

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the Act and accordingly, convicted and sentenced him, as per the description given hereinabove.

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Though, at the first instance, accused preferred an appeal in the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Kullu, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, however, same was dismissed vide judgment dated 02.05.2024. In the aforesaid background, petitioner-accused has approached this Court by way of instant proceedings, seeking therein his acquittal after setting aside the judgments of conviction recorded by the Courts below.

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Vide order dated 21.08.2024, Co-ordinate Bench of this Court stayed the substantive sentence imposed by the learned Court below, subject to petitioner/accused depositing 30% of the compensation amount and furnishing personal and surety bonds in the sum of Rs.25,000/-. Though aforesaid order was complied with, but thereafter, matter was repeatedly adjourned at the request of learned counsel representing the petitioner, enabling him to deposit the remaining amount, but fact remains that neither petitioner came present before this Court despite there being order, nor paid the remaining amount and as such, learned counsel representing the petitioner fairly stated that matter may be heard and decided on its own merits.

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Having heard learned counsel for the parties and perused material adduced on record, vis-a-vis reasoning assigned in the impugned judgments, this Court sees no reason to agree with Mr. Naveen K.

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Bhardwaj, learned counsel representing the petitioner, that Courts below have fallen in grave error while appreciating the evidence, rather this Court finds that both the Courts below have meticulously dealt with each and every aspect of the matter and there is no scope left for interference.

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Accused in his statement recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. nowhere disputed factum of his having issued the Cheque as well as his signatures thereupon and as such, no illegality can be said to have been committed by the Court below while invoking Sections 118 and 139 of the Act, which speak about presumption in favour of the holder of the Cheque that Cheque was issued towards discharge of a lawful liability. No doubt, aforesaid presumption is rebuttable, but to rebut such presumption, accused either can refer to the documents and evidence led on record by the complainant or presumption can be rebutted by leading positive evidence, if any. However, in the case at hand, accused was unable to point out from the documents as well as evidence adduced on record by the complainant that Cheque issued by him was not issued towards discharge of lawful liability.

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8 . The Hon’ble Apex Court in M/s Laxmi Dyechem V. State of Gujarat , 2013(1) RCR(Criminal), has categorically held that if the accused is able to establish a probable defence which creates doubt about the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability, the prosecution can fail. To raise probable defence, accused can rely on the materials submitted by

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the complainant. Needless to say, if the accused/drawer of the Cheque in question neither raises a probable defence nor able to contest existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability, statutory presumption under Section 139 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, regarding commission of the ofence f comes into play. It would be proftable to reproduce relevant paras No.23 to i 25 of the judgment herein:-

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“23. Further, a three judge Bench of this Court in the matter of Rangappa vs. Sri Mohan [3] held that Section 139 is an example of a reverse onus clause that has been included in furtherance of the legislative objective of improving the credibility of negotiable instruments. While Section 138 of the Act specifies the strong criminal remedy in relation to the dishonour of the cheques, the rebuttable presumption under Section 139 is a device to prevent undue delay in the course of litigation. The Court however, further observed that it must be remembered that the offence made punishable by Section 138can be better described as a regulatory offence since the bouncing of a cheque is largely in the nature of a civil wrong whose money is usually confined to the private parties involved in commercial transactions. In such a scenario, the test of proportionality should guide the construction and interpretation of reverse onus clauses and the defendant accused cannot be expected to discharge an unduly high standard of proof”. The Court further observed that it is a settled position that when an accused has to rebut the presumption under Section 139, the standard of proof for doing so is all preponderance of probabilities.

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24. Therefore, if the accused is able to establish a probable defence which creates doubt about the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability, the prosecution can fail. The accused can rely on the materials submitted by the complainant in order to raise such a defence and it is inconceivable that in some cases the accused may not need to adduce the evidence of his/her own. If however, the accused/drawer of a cheque in question neither raises a probable defence nor able to contest existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability, obviously statutory presumption under Section 139 of the NI Act regarding commission of the offence comes into play if the same is not rebutted with regard to the materials submitted by the complainant.

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25. It is no doubt true that the dishonour of cheques in order to qualify for prosecution under Section 138 of the NI Act precedes a statutory notice where the drawer is called upon by allowing him to avail the opportunity to arrange the payment of the amount covered by the cheque and it is only when the drawer despite the receipt of such a notice and despite the opportunity to make the payment within the time stipulated under the statute does not pay the amount, that the said default would be considered a dishonour constituting an ofence, hence punishable. But f even in such cases, the question whether or not there was lawfully recoverable debt or liability for discharge whereof the cheque was issued, would be a matter that the trial court will have to examine having regard to the evidence adduced before it keeping in view the statutory presumption that unless rebutted, the cheque is presumed to have been issued for a valid consideration. In view of

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this the responsibility of the trial judge while issuing summons to conduct the trial in matters where there has been instruction to stop payment despite suf fi ciency of funds and whether the same would be a suf fi cient ground to proceed in the matter, would be extremely heavy.”

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In the case at hand, complainant, with a view to prove his case, examined himself as CW-1. He tendered evidence by way of affidavit Ex.CW1/A, reiterating therein averments contained in the complaint. Apart from above, he also tendered documentary evidence such as Cheque return memo Ex.CW1/B, Cheque Ex.CW1/C, registered (legal) notice Ex.CW1/D, postal receipt Ex.CW1/E and letter to Sub-Postal Officer, Banjar, Ex.CW1/F. If cross-examination conducted upon this witness is perused in its entirety, it can be safely concluded that accused was unable to extract anything contrary to what this witness stated in his examination-in-chief.

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In cross-examination, afore witness while stating that he is known to accused from his childhood, categorically stated that accused had taken the money from him for his contract work. While stating that he is an agriculturist and earns 50,000/- per annum from his profession and₹ orchards, he stated that money was paid by him in the month of May, 2014. While stating that he does not file income-tax return, he denied that he had not paid money to anyone else, except the accused. He denied that he had paid only sum of ₹60,000/- to the accused and accused in discharge had returned 85,000/- to him along with interest. He denied₹

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that money was returned by the accused at Kullu Court Complex in the presence of Bar Clerks Jagdev, Geeta Nand and Shetu Ram Hawaldar. He also denied that he had assured the accused to withdraw the case from the Court. While admitting that Cheque was duly filled-in at the time of issuance, he denied that he had taken three blank Cheques from the accused as security at the time of giving money to him. If the pattern of cross-examination is seen, it clearly establishes factum of petitioneraccused having issued the Cheque as well as signatures thereupon. Though accused attempted to carve out a case that money taken by him was returned in the presence of person namely Jagdev, Geeta Nand and Shetu Ram Hawaldar, but aforesaid defence never came to be probabilised by the accused by examining aforesaid persons. Similarly, an attempt came to be made at the behest of accused to set up a case that Cheque in question was issued as a security, but the same was misused, however, despite opportunity, he failed to lead any evidence to probabilise aforesaid defence. If the evidence led on record by the respective parties is read in conjunction, this Court sees no reason to differ with the findings returned by the Courts below that complainant successfully proved on record that accused had issued Cheque towards discharge of his lawful liability. Similarly, accused by way of taking defence of issuance of Cheque as security, virtually accepted factum of his having issued the Cheque as well as his signatures thereupon and as such, both the Courts below rightly

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held accused guilty of the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Act, especially when Cheque in question issued by him was dishonoured on account of insufficient funds.

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Since factum of issuance of Cheque by the accused as well as his signatures thereupon was never disputed, presumption as available under Section 118 and 139 of the Act rightly came to be invoked in the case of the petitioner that Cheque in question was issued in discharge of lawful liability. Since no evidence worth credence ever came to be led on record to rebut the presumption, no illegality can be said to have been committed by the Courts below while holding petitioner/accused guilty for the commission of offence punishable under Section 138 of the Act. Though, defence came to be taken at the behest of the petitioner/accused that Cheque in question was issued as a security, but the same may not be of any help to the accused, for the reason that by now, it is well-settled that Cheque, even if issued as a ‘security’ can also be presented for encashment, if amount taken or promised to be repaid is not paid.

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Hon’ble Apex Court in case titled Sripati Singh v. State of Jharkhand, Criminal Appeal No. 1269-1270 of 2021, decided on 28.10.2021, has held as under:

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“16. A cheque issued as security pursuant to a fnancial i transaction cannot be considered as a worthless piece of paper under every circumstance. ‘Security’ in its true sense is the state of being safe and the security given for a loan is

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something given as a pledge of payment. It is given, deposited or pledged to make certain the fulflment of an obligation to i which the parties to the transaction are bound. If in a transaction, a loan is advanced and the borrower agrees to repay the amount in a specifed timeframe and issues a i cheque as security to secure such repayment; if the loan amount is not repaid in any other form before the due date or if there is no other understanding or agreement between the parties to defer the payment of amount, the cheque which is issued as security would mature for presentation and the drawee of the cheque would be entitled to present the same. On such presentation, if the same is dishonoured, the consequences contemplated under Section 138 and the other provisions of N.I. Act would f l ow.”

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Needless to say, expression “Security cheque” is not a statutorily defined expression in the Negotiable Instruments Act, rather same is to be inferred from the pleadings as well as evidence, if any, led on record with regard to issuance of security cheque. The Negotiable Instruments Act does not per se carve out an exception in respect of a “security cheque” to say that a complaint in respect of such a cheque would not be maintainable as there is a debt existing in respect whereof the cheque in question is issued, same would attract provision of Section 138 of the Act in case of its dishonour.

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Having scanned the entire evidence adduced on record by the respective parties, this Court finds that all the basic ingredients of Section 138 of the Act are met in the case at hand. Since Cheque issued by accused

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towards discharge of his lawful liability was returned on account of insufficient funds in the bank account of accused and he despite having received legal notice failed to make the payment good within the stipulated time, complainant had no option but to institute proceedings under Section 138 of the Act, which subsequently rightly came to be decided by both the Courts below on the basis of pleadings as well as evidence adduced on record by the respective parties.

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Moreover, this Court has a very limited jurisdiction under Section 397 of the Cr.P.C to re-appreciate the evidence, especially in view of the concurrent findings of fact and law relied upon by the Courts below. In this regard, reliance is placed upon the judgment passed by Hon’ble Apex Court in case “State of Kerala Vs. Puttumana Illath Jathavedan Namboodiri” ( 1999) 2 Supreme Court Cases 452, wherein it has been held as under:-

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“In its revisional jurisdiction, the High Court can call for and examine the record of any proceedings for the purpose of satisfying itself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order. In other words, the jurisdiction is one of supervisory jurisdiction exercised by the High Court for correcting miscarriage of justice. But the said revisional power cannot be equated with the power of an appellate court nor can it be treated even as a second appellate jurisdiction. Ordinarily, therefore, it would not be appropriate for the High Court to re-appreciate the evidence and come to its own conclusion on the same when the evidence has already been

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appreciated by the Magistrate as well as Sessions Judge in appeal, unless any glaring feature is brought to the notice of the High Court which would otherwise tantamount to gross miscarriage of justice.”

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Since after having carefully examined the evidence in the present case, this Court is unable to find any error of law as well as fact, if any, committed by the Courts below, while passing impugned judgments, there is no occasion, whatsoever, to exercise the revisional power.

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True it is that the Hon’ble Apex Court in Krishnan and another Versus Krishnaveni and another, (1997) 4 Supreme Court Case 241; has held that in case Court notices that there is a failure of justice or misuse of judicial mechanism or procedure, sentence or order is not correct, it is salutary duty of the High Court to prevent the abuse of

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the process or miscarriage of justice or to correct irregularities/incorrectness committed by inferior criminal court in its judicial process or illegality of sentence or order, but learned counsel representing the accused has failed to point out any material irregularity committed by the Courts below while appreciating the evidence and as such, this Court sees no reason to interfere with the well reasoned judgments passed by the Courts below.

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Consequently, in view of the discussion made hereinabove as well as law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court, this Court sees no valid reason to interfere with the well reasoned judgments recorded by the

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Courts below, which otherwise, appear to be based upon proper appreciation of evidence available on record and as such, same are upheld. 19. Accordingly, the present criminal revision petition is dismissed being devoid of any merit. The petitioner is directed to surrender himself before the learned trial Court forthwith to serve the sentence as awarded by the learned trial Court, if not already served. Bail bonds of the petitioner, if any, are cancelled. Interim order dated 21.08.2024 stands vacated. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.

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(Sandeep Sharma), Judge

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April 23, 2026 (Rajeev Raturi)

Baldev Singh v. Bhagat Singh

Case brief

What is this about?

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Baldev Singh v. Bhagat Singh

Case brief

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