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Nagarajan v. The State of Tamil Nadu

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 802Decided 4 Jun 2025
Crl.A. No.-002892-002893 - 2025 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) Nos.621-622 of 2024)
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Background

The appellant, a neighbour of the deceased, was alleged to have entered her room at night and attempted to outrage her modesty; the next morning the deceased died by suicide along with her infant daughter. The Trial Court acquitted the appellant of abetment of suicide (Section 306 IPC) but convicted him under Sections 354 (outraging modesty) and 448 (house trespass) IPC. When the appellant alone appealed his conviction to the Madras High Court, the High Court, noting that the State had not appealed the Section 306 acquittal, took up a suo motu revision on its own, and ultimately convicted the appellant under Section 306 IPC as well, enhancing his sentence.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that where only the convict has appealed and neither the victim, the complainant, nor the State has challenged an acquittal or sought enhancement of sentence, a High Court cannot exercise suo motu revisional power to convict the appellant on an additional charge or enhance his sentence, doing so effectively punishes a person more severely for exercising his own right of appeal. The Court found this procedurally impermissible regardless of how the evidence on the abetment charge might otherwise have been viewed. It accordingly set aside the conviction and enhanced sentence under Section 306 IPC, while confirming the original conviction and sentence under Sections 354 and 448 IPC as passed by the Trial Court and affirmed by the Sessions Court.

Lesson Learnt

An appellate or revisional court cannot use a convict's own appeal as an opportunity to convict him of a more serious, previously acquitted charge or enhance his sentence, unless the prosecution or victim has independently challenged that acquittal: a person should never be worse off for having exercised his right to appeal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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