New Delhi:
A six-month jail term, awarded to a man in a cheque bouncing case, has been reduced by a Delhi court to a day-long detention in the court room itself after he pledged to pay back his loan within two months with a fine of Rs 2 lakh.
Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta replaced the jail term of debtor Anil Kumar Sharma with detention "till rising of the court (TRC)", upholding his conviction by the magisterial court on account of bouncing of his cheque.
"Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case and the submissions of the appellant (Sharma), he is sentenced to imprisonment of TRC and is sentenced to pay Rs 2 Lakh as compensation to creditor (Surender Malhotra)," the court said.
The judge said there was no illegality or infirmity in the conviction order by the trial and upheld it, but reduced the sentence.
Naraina village resident Sharma, 36, had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from Ramesh Nagar resident Malhotra and had given him two cheques of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh to him for payment on October 1, 2009 and on February 25, 2010.
In his complaint to the trial court, Malhotra said when he deposited the second cheque in the bank, it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds in Sharma's bank account.
Sharma had challenged the trial court's order on the grounds that the sentence of six months awarded to him was "harsh and too severe".
Maintaining that he had not been able to pay the money due to financial constraints, he told the court that he has already paid Rs 1.5 lakh and pledged to pay the remaining sum within two months. He also agreed to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh.