Breaking Supreme Court Legal Update
New Delhi · Wednesday, 05 August 2026 9888666310 | [email protected]
Free Law — free judgments and free headnotes Free Lawby De Jure
Supreme Court of India 2020-01-14 partly_allowed

PADUM KUMAR vs STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

Bench: 2 — R. Banumathi, A.S. Bopanna

In Brief

A postman was convicted of forging a signature on the delivery slip of a registered envelope containing valuable securities worth Rs. 20,000. While expert opinions on the handwriting were contradictory, the person allegedly signed (the recipient) testified he did not sign the slip. The High Court upheld the conviction, reasoning that as the postman alone delivered the envelope and could not explain who made the signature, a presumption arose against him. The Supreme Court confirmed the conviction under Sections 467 and 468 IPC but reduced the sentence to time already served (over 18 months), considering the 1992 occurrence and long delay in prosecution.

The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.

Criminal Law Forgery Evidence—Expert Opinion Handwriting Analysis Sentencing Appellate Procedure

Read the full judgment & headnote. It's free.

Register to read the complete Supreme Court judgment text and the headnote, and to search 1 lakh+ Supreme Court judgments by meaning. It is a free service.

Register Free Login