138. ²[(1)] Where any cheque drawn by a person on an account maintained by him with a banker for payment of any amount of money to another person from out of that account ³[* * *] is returned by the bank unpaid, either because of the amount of money standing to the credit of that account is insufficient to honour the cheque or that it exceeds the amount arranged to be paid from that account by an agreement made with that bank, such person shall be deemed to have committed an offence and shall, without prejudice to any other provision of this Act, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to ⁴[thrice] the amount of the cheque, or with both:

Provided that nothing contained in this section shall apply unless-

(a) the cheque has been presented to the bank within a period of six months from the date on which it is drawn or within the period of its validity, whichever is earlier;

(b) the payee or the holder in due course of the cheque, as the case may be, makes a demand for the payment of the said amount of money by giving a notice, in writing, to the drawer of the cheque, within ⁵[thirty days] of the receipt of information by him from the bank regarding the return of the cheque as unpaid, and

(c) the drawer of such cheque fails to make the payment of the said amount of money to the payee or, as the case may be, to the holder in due course of the cheque, within ⁶[thirty days] of the receipt of the said notice.

⁷[* * *]

⁸[(1A) The notice required to be served under clasue (b) of sub-section (1) shall be served in the following manner-

(a) by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served; or

(b) by sending it by registered post with acknowledgement due to that person at his usual or last known place of abode or business in Bangladesh; or

(c) by publication in a daily Bangla national newspaper having wide circulation.]

⁹[(2) Where any fine is realized under sub-section (1), any amount up to the face value of the cheque as far as is covered by the fine realized shall be paid to the holder.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub- section (1) and (2), the holder of the cheque shall retain his right to establish his claim through civil court if whole or any part of the value of the cheque remains unrealized.]

¹⁰[138A. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, no appeal against any order of sentence under sub-section (1) of section 138 shall lie, unless an amount of not less than fifty per cent of the amount of the dishonoured cheque is deposited before filing the appeal in the court which awarded the sentence.]

139. [Omitted by section 3 of the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2000 (Act No. XVII of 2000).]

140. (1) If the person committing an offence under section 138 is a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any person liable to punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge, or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation. - For the purposes of this section-

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and

(b) “director” in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.

141. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898),-(a) no court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under section 138 except upon a complaint, in writing, made by the payee or, as the case may be, the holder in due course of the cheque;(b) such complaint is made within one month of the date on which the cause of action arises under clause (c) of the proviso to section 138; ¹¹[(c) no court inferior to that of a Court of Sessions shall try any offence punishable under section 138.]]