Introduction The Negotiable Instruments Act  (NI Act) of 1881 was created to define and amend the law relating to promissory notes, bills of exchange and cheques. Section 138  of the Negotiable Instruments Act establishes that when a cheque that is drawn by a person, on an account maintained by him with the bank is returned as unpaid, because the money is insufficient to honour the cheque, that person will be criminally liable to be imprisoned for a period of up to two years