If a single-judge bench of the high court confirms your conviction, then you may have to challenge the order in the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP).
Whether an order of a single-judge bench of the high court can be challenged before a division bench (of two judges), it may depend on the relevant rules of the high court concerned, if any. However, as far as I understand, in criminal cases, most of the high courts do not have a provision for such appeal before a division bench against the order of a single-judge bench. Therefore, you may have to challenge such order in the Supreme Court by way of filing SLP, as I mentioned above.
The high court does not have power to grant you bail, after it confirms your conviction, for allowing you to file SLP in Supreme Court. So, the high court will not grant you bail after it has confirmed your conviction.
But, if you are already on bail (as you have said), generally some time is granted to you for surrender or even if no such time is granted but a warrant is issued for your arrest then that process may take some time; and, during this period, you can file SLP in Supreme Court. Usually, SLP is heard in Supreme Court only after you have surrendered to custody, after the high court order; but, you can file an application for exemption from surrender, along with your SLP, and in such a case this application would be heard first by the Supreme Court. And, if the Supreme Court grants you exemption from surrendering, then your SLP can be heard while you continue to be on bail. Otherwise, you may have to surrender to custody, and then during SLP hearing, you can seek bail from the Supreme Court.
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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