Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
Section 138—Dishonour of cheque—Sentence—Adequacy—First respondent was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one month and to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000 on the sole ground that she was a widow—Appellate Court reduced the substantive sentence to one day—Revision—Criminal court while sentencing an accused for the offence under Section 138 of the NI Act has to keep the compensatory part in mind, which has to be commensurate to the cheque amount and not to exceed twice the amount, so that it can be appropriated towards the compensation payable to the complainant under Section 357 of CrPC—Sentence passed by courts below is against the well-settled principles laid down in precedents, on the misplaced sympathy that the first respondent is a widow—Sentence imposed by courts below is flee-bite and grossly inadequate—First respondent is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one day (till the rising of the court) and pay a fine of Rs. 1,10,000 with default stipulation—Sentence modified.
[Paras 13 to 16]