Gurdial Singh Vs Varun Gupta — Cheque Dishonour | Punjab & Haryana HC (2025)

Gurdial Singh Vs Varun Gupta — Cheque Dishonour | Punjab & Haryana HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Present appeal and accompanying application(s) remitted to the learned Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, to be treated as filed under Section 372 Cr.P.C., 1973/Section 413 BNSS, 2023, for entrusting to himself or assignment to another Court of competent jurisdiction; Registry directed to send complete records (including paper-book) expeditiously; merits left open to the Sessions Court.

Issue for consideration

Whether an appeal by the complainant against an order of acquittal in a proceeding under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — lodged with an application for special leave under Section 378(4) Cr.P.C., 1973 — falls within the purview of the proviso to Section 372 Cr.P.C./Section 413 BNSS, 2023 (the complainant qualifying as a 'victim'), so that the complainant need not pursue the special-leave route under Section 378(4) Cr.P.C., 1973/419(4) BNSS, 2023.

Court's answer

Acting on the Hon'ble Supreme Court's dicta in M/s Celestium Financial and this Court's antecedent pronouncement in Raj Kumar, this judgment proceeds on the footing that a complainant's appeal against an acquittal in a Section 138 N.I. Act proceeding falls within the proviso to Section 372 Cr.P.C./Section 413 BNSS, 2023 — the complainant being encompassed within the definition of 'victim' — and that the complainant is accordingly not constrained to seek special leave to appeal under Section 378(4) Cr.P.C., 1973/419(4) BNSS, 2023, whose confines are comparatively narrower than the broader proviso to Section 372/413.

Ratio / Principle

Demonstrating commitment to justice and declining to let procedural technicality eclipse substantive adjudication, the Court disposed of the present appeal along with accompanying application(s) by remitting them to the learned Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, with a direction to treat them as having been filed under Section 372 of Cr.P.C., 1973/Section 413 of BNSS, 2023; the learned Sessions Judge may entrust the appeal to himself or assign it to another Court of competent jurisdiction for disposal, as per law.

Key takeaways

The Court clarified that it has not delved into the merits of the appeal or the accompanying application(s); the merits are expressly left open for consideration of the concerned learned Sessions Court, which shall indubitably adjudicate them without getting influenced by any observation made in this judgment.ratio¶30

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

CRM-A-1074-MA-2018 (leave-to-appeal/miscellaneous appeal) — High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh, oral judgment of Sumeet Goel, Judge, dated 09.07.2025. GURDIAL SINGH (cause-title petitioner; styled appellant/applicant and complainant in the body) vs VARUN GUPTA; counsel: Virender Soni, Adv. The appeal, lodged with an application for special leave under S.378(4) Cr.P.C., 1973, prays for setting aside the impugned order dated 01.03.2018 of Id. JMIC, Kurukshetra — the acquittal arising in the complainant's proceeding under S.138, Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Invoking the Hon'ble Supreme Court's dicta in M/s Celestium Financial vs. A. Gnanasekaran Etc. (2025 INSC 804 : 2025(3) RCR (Criminal) 208) and this Court's antecedent pronouncement in Raj Kumar vs. Rajender (CRM-A-826-2025; 2025:PHHC:079740), the Court held that a complainant's appeal against acquittal under S.138 N.I. Act falls squarely within the proviso to S.372 Cr.P.C./S.413 BNSS, 2023 — the complainant being a 'victim' per the Cr.P.C., 1973/BNSS, 2023 definition — and is therefore not constrained to clear the narrower special-leave gate of S.378(4) Cr.P.C., 1973/419(4) BNSS, 2023. Rather than dismissing the appeal for this technical infirmity, the appeal and accompanying application(s) were remitted to the learned Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, with directions to treat them as filed under S.372 Cr.P.C., 1973/S.413 BNSS, 2023 and to entrust them to himself or another Court of competent jurisdiction; merits expressly left open, to be adjudicated uninfluenced by this judgment's observations; Registry directed to forward complete records expeditiously. Disposition: disposed of by remittal.