THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL PETITION No.10324 of 2010 ORDER Petitioner approached this Court with a prayer to quash the proceedings initiated against him in C.C.No.326 of 2009 on the file of the II-Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Machilipatnam, Krishna District. The second respondent herein filed the present complaint before the concerned Court seeking to take cognizance of the offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC and under the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act against the petitioner. The main contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that to invoke the provisions of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, there should be some legally enforceable debt, whereas this is a case wherein the disputed cheque was given at the time of compromise between the parties and that too it was given under coercion. Hence, the ingredients of the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act are not attracted in this case. Per contra, learned counsel for the 2nd respondent submitted that whether the disputed cheque was given towards legally enforceable debt or not is the question to be decided by the trial Court after due trial. On perusal of the record and the complaint of the defacto- complaint, this Court is of the view that the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner are all disputed facts that can be raised at the time of trial. As such, this Court is not inclined to interfere with the trial at this stage. Hence, this criminal petition is dismissed. In any event, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, the presence of the petitioner before the trial Court is dispensed with except on the dates the learned trial Magistrate insists for his presence and the petitioner shall be properly represented by his counsel. ____________________ JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO 01.04.2011 v v