By an amendment made to the Criminal Procedure Code, a Proviso was added to Section 372 thereof in the year 2009, which lays down as under:
“Provided that the victim shall have a right to prefer an appeal against any order passed by the Court acquitting the accused or convicting for a lesser offence or imposing inadequate compensation, and such appeal shall lie to the Court to which an appeal ordinarily lies against the order of conviction of such Court.”
However, in the case of Satya Pal Singh v. State of M.P., (2015) 15 SCC 613 : 2015 Cri LJ 4929, the Supreme Court has held that:
“… it is abundantly clear that the proviso to Section 372 Cr.P.C. must be read along with its main enactment i.e. Section 372 itself and together with sub-section (3) of Section 378 Cr.P.C. otherwise the substantive provision of Section 372 Cr.P.C. will be rendered nugatory, as it clearly states that no appeal shall lie from any judgment or order of a criminal court except as provided by Cr.P.C.”
“Thus, to conclude on the legal issue: “whether the appellant herein, being the father of the deceased, has statutory right to prefer an appeal to the High Court against the order of acquittal under the proviso to Section 372 Cr.P.C. without obtaining the leave of the High Court as required under sub-section (3) of Section 378 Cr.P.C.?” this Court is of the view that the right of questioning the correctness of the judgment and order of acquittal by preferring an appeal to the High Court is conferred upon the victim including the legal heir and others, as defined under Section 2(wa) Cr.P.C., under the proviso to Section 372, but only after obtaining the leave of the High Court as required under sub-section (3) of Section 378 Cr.P.C.”
Though the above judgment is in respect of a case where the appeal was to be filed in high court, it may be applicable in the case where the appeal is to be filed in sessions court as well, since it is an interpretation of the Proviso to Section 372 Cr.P.C. I am of the considered and respectful opinion that the above judgment of the Supreme Court is wrongly decided on this issue; however, being the law laid down by the Supreme Court it is binding on all.
Therefore, for filing an appeal against an order of acquittal, the victim may have to first obtain leave of the high court under Section 378(3) of the Cr.P.C.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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