Cheque dishonour case: Delhi resident released from Gurugram jail after 28 days custody post sentence

New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI): A Delhi resident was released from Bhondsi Prison in Gurugram after 28 days of custody even after his three-month sentence in a cheque dishonour case. He had been sentenced to three months for three complaints arising from a single transaction. The court had directed in 2018 that all sentences shall run concurrently.
However, the Sessions Court on October 3, 2024, while dismissing his appeal, issued three conviction warrants. He was taken into custody and sent to jail to serve his sentence.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Sonia passed the order on an application seeking the release of Mohd Firoz Alam after clarifying the position in accordance with the Supreme Court's order.
"When the prosecution is based on a single transaction, regardless of how many complaints are filed, it shall be considered as a single transaction, and the 'rule of single transaction' will apply, as provided by the Supreme Court in the VK Bansal case," JMFC Sonia said in the order passed on January 28.
The judge further stated, "Moreover, my learned predecessor had also specifically mentioned that all the sentences are to run concurrently."
The court noted that a perusal of the main case files would reveal that the transaction for which the cheques were issued was a single transaction with an outstanding amount of Rs 2,455,271. In discharge of that liability, 12 cheques were issued by the applicant in different amounts. Three separate complaints were filed for the 12 cheques. However, even though the complaints were filed separately, with four cheques in one complaint, all 12 cheques were issued in discharge of the liability of one single transaction.
Advocate Shishant, counsel for the convict Firoz Alam, moved an application seeking a direction for all sentences to run concurrently and for the release of the convict.
The court stated that it is the duty and prerogative of the concerned jail superintendent to execute the warrant of conviction sent by the court in accordance with Section 427 of the Cr.P.C./467 of BNSS, as laid down by the Honourable Supreme Court.
While deciding the plea, the court said that since this court has no authority to regulate the manner in which a particular warrant or conviction is to be executed by the concerned Jail Superintendent, it directed that the Superintendent of District Prison, Gurugram, at Bhondsi, proceed further in accordance with the law and take immediate action, as the matter pertains to the life and liberty of the convict.
Thereafter, the convict was released from Bhondsi Jail on January 28. (ANI)