CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 (O&M) Milap Singh ... Appellant Versus Jaspal Singh and another ... Respondents Reserved on: 10.07.2026 Pronounced on: 24.07.2026 Uploaded on: 24.07.2026 Whether only the operative part of the judgment is pronounced ? No Whether full judgment is pronounced ? Yes CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH CHANDER DIMRI Present: Mr. Lokesh Shivansh, Advocate for Mr. G.C. Shahpuri, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. Pratap Singh Gill, Advocate as Amicus Curiae. Mr. Lajwant Singh Virk, Advocate for respondent No.1. Ms. Swati Batra, Sr. DAG, Haryana. ******* RAMESH CHANDER DIMRI, J. 1. Through the present appeal, the appellant/complainant (for VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -2- brevity, ‘appellant’) challenges a judgment dated 17.04.2009 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Yamuna Nagar at Jagadhri vide which a Criminal Appeal No.10 of 2007 titled as Jaspal Singh Vs. Milap Singh and another was allowed and the respondent No.1-accused (for brevity, ‘respondent No.1’) was acquitted of the notice of accusation served upon him. 2. Facts necessary for disposal of the present appeal are that the appellant filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for brevity, ‘1881 Act’) against the respondent No.1 before the concerned Magistrate alleging therein that the said respondent had taken a sum of Rs.80,000/- from the appellant after agreeing to repay it with interest on demand and at the time of receiving the said amount, he had issued a post-dated cheque dated 05.10.2001 of the said amount drawn on State Bank of Patiala, Ponta Sahib Branch. When the said cheque was presented by the appellant with his banker, it was returned with a remark of “insufficient funds” in the account of the respondent No.1. The appellant issued a notice under Section 138 of 1881 Act to the respondent No.1 but he neither replied to the said notice nor made payment of the said cheque within the time stipulated under the said Section. 3. On preliminary enquiry, the respondent No.1 was summoned on 01.10.2002. He then was served with a notice of accusation on 14.10.2003. In his evidence, the appellant examined three witnesses and in VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -3- his defence, the respondent No.1 examined two witnesses. On conclusion of the evidence of the parties, concerned Magistrate convicted the respondent No.1 under said Section and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months and to pay an amount of Rs.80,000/- to the appellant as compensation. In default of payment of compensation, the respondent No.1 was ordered to further undergo simple imprisonment for one month. 4. Aggrieved of the said conviction and sentence, the respondent No.1 filed the abovementioned appeal before the Sessions Court, Yamuna Nagar at Jagadhri on 02.03.2007. After hearing the parties on the said appeal, learned Additional Sessions Judge, Yamuna Nagar at Jagadhri passed the impugned judgment of acquittal. 5. Aggrieved of the same, the appellant is before this Court in appeal. 6. I have heard Mr. Lokesh Shivansh, Advocate for Mr. G.C. Shahpuri, Advocate, for the appellant, Mr. Pratap Singh Gill, Advocate as Amicus Curiae, Mr. Lajwant Singh Virk, Advocate, for the respondent No.1 and Ms. Swati Batra, Sr. DAG, Haryana, on the appeal and have perused the summoned record. 7. Learned counsel for the appellant has argued that evidence led in the case in question fulfills ingredients of Section 138 of 1881 Act and therefore, the impugned judgment of acquittal is bad in law; that finding VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -4- rendered by the learned Additional Sessions Judge that the cheque in question was altered is bereft of evidence; and that in the absence of such evidence, an offence under Section 138 of the said Act stands proved against the respondent No.1. He has accordingly prayed for acceptance of the appeal. 8. On the other hand, the learned Amicus Curiae and learned counsel for the respondent No.1 have argued that a perusal of the impugned judgment will show that the cheque in question was altered because of which it loosed its sanctity and was rendered void; that there is sufficient evidence on record to prove the said fact; that the Appellate Court has relied upon the evidence led by the respondent No.1 to conclude so; that the present appeal is an appeal against acquittal and double presumption of innocence stands in favour of the respondent No.1; and that it does not qualify the ingredients/principles required for upsetting a judgment of acquittal. They have accordingly prayed for dismissal of the appeal. 9. After such hearing and perusal, I may state that while deciding an appeal against a judgment of acquittal, principles to be followed have been enumerated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court time and again. In the report Chandrappa & others Vs. State of Karnataka, 2007 (4) SCC 415, in respect thereof, it was observed as under:- “From the above decisions, in our considered view, the following general principles regarding powers of appellate VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -5- Court while dealing with an appeal against an order of acquittal emerge; (1) An appellate Court has full power to review, reappreciate and reconsider the evidence upon which the order of acquittal is founded; (2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no limitation, restriction or condition on exercise of such power and an appellate Court on the evidence before it may reach its own conclusion, both on questions of fact and of law; (3) Various expressions, such as, 'substantial and compelling reasons', 'good and sufficient grounds', 'very strong circumstances', 'distorted conclusions', 'glaring mistakes', etc. are not intended to curtail extensive powers of an appellate Court in an appeal against acquittal. Such phraseologies are more in the nature of 'flourishes of language' to emphasize the reluctance of an appellate Court to interfere with acquittal than to curtail the power of the Court to review the evidence and to come to its own conclusion. (4) An appellate Court, however, must bear in mind that in case of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of the accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence available VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -6- to him under the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence that every person shall be presumed to be innocent unless he is proved guilty by a competent court of law. Secondly, the accused having secured his acquittal, the presumption of his innocence is further reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court. (5) If two reasonable conclusions are possible on the basis of the evidence on record, the appellate court should not disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court.” 10. The said report was quoted with approval by a three Judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the report Jeet Ram Vs. Narcotics Control Bureau, Chandigarh, 2021 (14) SCC 592. 11. Applying the said principles to the present case, I may state that stand of the respondent No.1 since beginning was that he had in fact issued the cheque in question to the appellant for an amount of Rs.8,000/- only but not at all for a sum of Rs.80,000/-. No doubt so far as amount of Rs.8,000/- is concerned, evidence led by the appellant qualifies the ingredients contained in Section 138 of the abovestated Act. At the same time, the respondent No.1 has produced RW2, a Handwriting Expert, to prove that ‘y’ in the word ‘eighty’ and last zero in the digit ‘Rs.80,000’ was added subsequently and therefore, the said cheque has been rendered void. So far as said stand of the respondent No.1 is concerned, following VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -7- observations made by the learned Additional Sessions Judge in the impugned judgment are relevant to be reproduced: - “6. The arguments advanced on behalf of the appellant are convincing because entries in the cheque Ex.C1 definitely show tampering because if the figure 80,000/- had been written in the same flow, the last zero could not have been half the size of the other zeros. The complainant took advantage of the little space between the last zero and the two lines written ahead of that and inserted a much smaller zero in that to make the amount as 80,000/-. The letter ‘y’ in the word ‘eighty’ is also in the darker ink than the rest of the word ‘eight’. Also the name ‘Milap Singh’ is written in different handwriting while the words ‘eighty thousand only’ are written in an entirely different hand.………………….The prosecution has to prove its case irrespective of the defence taken by the accused and therefore, the trial court wrongly held that it was for the accused to have produced his account books to show whether an amount of Rs.80,000/- was advanced or an amount of Rs.80,000/-. In any case the accused produced the counterfoil before the trial court to show that the relevant cheque was issued for Rs.8000/-. Had the cheque been issued for Rs.80000/- there was no occasion for the convict to have written the figure of 8000/-because at VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -8- that time he would not have known that there would be any dispute. Rather it was for the complainant to prove that he had advanced the amount to the accused for any particular purpose. All the other cheques issued by the accused were cleared as per the statement Ex.C7 and only the cheque in question was dishonoured. Since he had issued a cheque for Rs.8000/- he did not expect that the amount would not be available in his account when the cheque would be presented and because the cheque was presented for an amount ten times the original after making the tampering, the amount was not available in the account. The convict was to make sure only that he had issued a cheque for Rs.8000/- and that amount should be available in his account at the relevant time. 7. Reliance was placed on behalf of the appellant on the authority reported as Ramchndran Vs. K. Dineshan 2005 Crl. L. J 1237 in which one figure was added later on and the ink was slightly different and another zero was also added. It was held that since it was not the case of the complainant that correction was made with the knowledge and consent of the drawer, conviction could not be sustained. In case of material alteration, the document itself become void and no legally recoverable debt could be there under that document. Similarly VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -9- it was held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the authority reported as Loonkaran Sethia etc. Vs. Mr. Ivan E. John and others AIR 1977 Supreme Court 336 that material alteration is something which varies the rights, liabilities and legal position of the parties. The document in which material alteration is made becomes void unless, the alteration is made with the consent of the party liable under the document.” 12. I have also perused the record to check veracity of the said observations in the impugned judgment. After such perusal, I find that said observations are based on evidence on record. 13. Therefore, I find that the appeal in question does not at all qualify the principles laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the abovestated report/s to reverse a judgment of acquittal. After perusing the said judgment, I am of the considered opinion that the Appellate Court has arrived at a reasonable conclusion in the matter based on evidence on record. The respondent No.1 in the present appeal has a double presumption of innocence in his favour. The evidence on record does not indict him in the case in question beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt. View taken by the learned Appellate Court is a reasonable view. Its conclusions are also reasonable. Even if another conclusion would have been possible on the basis of the evidence on record, finding of acquittal rendered in the present case in favour of the respondent No.1 could not be disturbed in an appeal VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh CRA-S-2489-SB-2009 -10- against acquittal. 14. For what has been stated above, I am of the considered opinion that there is no ground to interfere in the impugned judgment of acquittal while exercising jurisdiction under Section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Arguments of learned counsel for the appellant, therefore, have no substance. In turn, the present appeal is dismissed. Interim application/s, if any, stand/s disposed off. [ RAMESH CHANDER DIMRI ] 24.07.2026 JUDGE vishnu Whether speaking/reasoned : Yes/No Whether reportable : Yes/No VISHNU 2026.07.24 10:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh