Published on: 09 November 2022 at 12:43 IST
Court – Supreme Court of India
Citation – Subhash Chand v/s State (Delhi Admn) (2013) 2 SCC 17
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has held that Section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is to be employed for seeking Special Leave to Appeal against an order of acquittal passed in a case instituted upon Complaint Case.
Para – 19
Sub-section (4) of Section 378 makes provision for appeal against an order of acquittal passed in a case instituted upon complaint. It states that in such case if the complainant makes an application to the High Court and the High Court grants special leave to appeal, the complainant may present such an appeal to the High Court.
This sub-section speaks of “special leave” as against sub-section (3) relating to other appeals which speaks of “leave”. Thus, the complainant’s appeal against an order of acquittal is a category by itself.
The complainant could be a private person or a public servant. This is evident from sub-section (5) which refers to application filed for “special leave” by the complainant. It grants six months’ period of limitation to a complainant who is a public servant and sixty days in every other case for filing application. Sub-section (6) is important.
It states that if in any case the complainant’s application for “special leave” under sub-section (4) is refused no appeal from the order of acquittal shall lie under sub-section (1) or under sub-section (2).
Thus, if “special leave” is not granted to the complainant to appeal against an order of acquittal the matter must end there. Neither the District Magistrate nor the State Government can appeal against that order of acquittal. The idea appears to be to accord quietus to the case in such a situation.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
Key Words – Special Leave, Appeal, Acquittal, Complaint Case.