Forging a cheque

Home / Legal Explainers / Money & Property / Money / Cheques / Forging a cheque

When you fill a cheque either without the authorisation of the account holder or exceed the amount you were authorised to fill then you have committed a crime. This is known as forging a cheque.

The punishment for this offence is jail time up to two years and/or a fine.

Examples

Mustafa took a blank cheque from Adrija and without her knowledge added in an amount of Rs. 10,000 along with falsifying her signature. He presented this cheque to the bank for payment. In this case, Mustafa has committed forgery.
Adrija gave Mustafa a signed cheque and authorised him to put in an amount only up to Rs. 10,000. Mustafa fills in Rs. 20,000 and presents it to the bank for payment. Mustafa has committed forgery.

Have a question you want to ask our legal experts?

Ask Nyaaya

Related Resources

Encash a cheque

Process of encashing a cheque depends on whether it is a bearer cheque or order cheque. There are multiple modes for the same.

Endorsing cheques

By endorsing the payee can use the same order cheque to pay to someone else by writing that person’s name behind the cheque and signing it.

Cheque Bouncing

A cheque is said to have been ‘bounced’ or ‘dishonoured‘ is when it is deposited or presented for payment but could not be encashed by the holder of the cheque.

Order Cheque

An order cheque is a cheque where only the person or party in whose name the cheque has been drawn, can withdraw the cash.

Cheque Truncation System

Cheque truncation is a form of cheque clearing system. It digitises a physical paper cheque into a substitute electronic form.

Crossed Cheque

Crossing a cheque means that it cannot be transferred to anyone else. These cheques can only be credited to the payee’s account.