The Gujarat high court on December 2 granted ad interim bail to filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi in a cheque-bouncing case. After hearing the arguments, Justice M.R. Mengdey said in his order, “Issue notice returnable on February 13 (of next year).”
A magistrate court in Jamnagar had earlier this year convicted Santoshi under the Negotiable Instruments Act, sentencing him to two years in prison and imposing a Rs. 20 lakh fine on him. The conviction was based on allegations that the filmmaker had failed to honour a financial commitment.
Santoshi’s legal counsel argued that the filmmaker had already made significant efforts to settle the amount, having deposited Rs. 6 lakh of the total due of Rs. 22.50 lakh. Rajkumar Santoshi also expressed his readiness to deposit the balance Rs. 16.50 lakh into the court’s registry to demonstrate his commitment to fulfilling his financial obligations.
Jamnagar resident Ashok Lal, who was the complainant, said that a part of the total payment remained to be returned by Santoshi out of a larger amount loaned to the filmmaker. Santoshi’s advocate pointed out discrepancies in the complainant’s account and procedural inconsistencies related to the issuance of the notice under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The high court heard the arguments from both the sides and granted Santoshi ad interim bail.
