NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of a woman jailed by a lower court for changing her lawyers six times during an appeal in a cheque bounce case, describing the order as “appalling and shocking.”
The case involves two dishonoured cheques issued by the woman’s mother, worth Rs 7 lakh and Rs 5.02 lakh respectively. The trial court convicted and sentenced both the mother and daughter. The woman subsequently filed an appeal before the sessions court in Faridabad, which has been pending for eight years, the bench noted.
Meanwhile, the sessions court cancelled their bail and ordered their custody. The mother and daughter challenged this decision in the high court and later the Supreme Court.
A bench comprising Justices Arvind Kumar and N V Anjaria, in an order dated November 27, noted that the mother had passed away, but the appellate court had not accepted her death certificate.
The sessions court directed the concerned Station House Officer to verify the legitimacy of the certificate. The bench observed that if the lawyer was not assisting the court, the proper action would have been to appoint an amicus curiae or allow the accused time to arrange alternate counsel — not to jail her.
The court ordered the woman’s release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.“It is appalling and shocking that the appellate court insisted on the appellant’s presence on every hearing date, particularly after suspending the sentence already passed,” the bench said.