LAHORE: In an ever-increasing trend of avoiding payment while conducting business transactions, it has been revealed that in the last year alone, 1,002 cases were registered in the city’s sessions court related to scams committed through fake cheques.
According to a report, out of the 1,002 cases, 662 accused of issuing bogus cheques were granted bail while 442 were indicted on the charges by the sessions court.
Where on one hand the growing numbers of counterfeit cases show the norm of unethical practices being rampant in business dealings of the metropolis, on the other hand, loopholes in the constitution also encourage more such frauds to take place because of provisions that let off the guilty party with ease.
The accused in bogus cheque cases are booked under Section 489-F which sets three years of jail time as punishment but it is important to note that even though issuers of bogus cheques can be brought before the court, the victims of the fraud can still not receive their due amount even after the fraudsters have been awarded the punishment.
Another case has to be filed in the sessions court to recover the amount of money lost by the defendants, which increases the waiting period and litigation process after which the payments lost to bogus cheques can be recovered.