The Delhi High Court has directed Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav to surrender after he repeatedly failed to honour settlement commitments in multiple cheque bounce cases. The Court said there was no reason to continue leniency after repeated breaches of undertakings given before it.
The Delhi High Court has recently directed Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav to surrender in jail in connection with several cheque bounce cases filed against him under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The High Court was hearing multiple petitions filed by Rajpal Yadav and his wife, in which they had challenged their conviction and sentence passed by the trial court.
The matter was heard by a single-judge Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who strongly criticised the conduct of the actor after noting that he had repeatedly failed to honour settlement commitments made before the Court, despite being given several chances over a long period of time.
Taking note of this behaviour, the High Court ordered Rajpal Yadav to surrender before the concerned Jail Superintendent by 4 p.m. on February 4.
While passing the order, Justice Sharma observed,
“This Court is of the view that the conduct of the petitioner no. 1 (Rajpal Yadav) deserves to be deprecated. Despite repeatedly giving assurances and seeking indulgence of this Court, he has failed to comply with the orders passed from time to time,”
clearly expressing the Court’s dissatisfaction with the repeated non-compliance by the actor.
The Court further examined the overall conduct of the petitioners and noted that even after showing considerable leniency for an extended period, the settlement amount agreed upon was still not paid as per the undertakings given to the Court.
Emphasising this aspect, Justice Sharma recorded that
“This Court finds no justification to continue the indulgence granted to the petitioner no.1 earlier,”
and added that the actor had
“repeatedly breached undertakings given before this Court”.
The High Court also recalled that the sentence imposed by the trial court had been suspended as early as June 28, 2024. This relief was granted after the petitioners expressed their willingness to settle the dispute amicably with the complainant company.
The matter was also referred to mediation in the hope that the issue would be resolved without further litigation.
However, the Court noted that despite these opportunities, no payment was made for nearly one year, even though clear assurances were given and specific timelines were fixed by the High Court from time to time.
In its order, the Court directed that the amount already deposited with the Registrar General of the High Court be released to the complainant company.
At the same time, the Court granted very limited relief to the actor by allowing him time till February 4 to surrender, taking into account the submission made on his behalf that he was currently engaged in professional work in Mumbai.
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Clarifying the final direction, Justice Sharma stated,
“However, in the interest of justice, the petitioner no.1 is directed to surrender before the concerned Jail Superintendent by 04.02.2026 at 4:00 PM, to serve the sentence awarded to him by the learned Trial Court,”
making it clear that no further leniency would be granted.
The matter has now been listed for February 5, when the Delhi High Court will seek a compliance report from the concerned jail authorities regarding the surrender of the actor.
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