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Parvinder Kansal v. The State of NCT of Delhi & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 515Decided 28 Aug 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 555 of 2020
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

The appellant's son was kidnapped for ransom in 2007 and later murdered; the accused was convicted of murder, kidnapping for ransom, and destruction of evidence, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The father, as the victim's complainant, filed an appeal before the Delhi High Court under Section 372 of the CrPC seeking enhancement of the sentence to the death penalty, but the High Court dismissed the appeal as not maintainable. He then approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the proviso to Section 372 CrPC gives a victim the right to appeal only in three specific situations, acquittal of the accused, conviction for a lesser offence, or inadequate compensation, and does not extend to challenging a sentence as inadequate. That power to seek enhancement of sentence belongs only to the State Government under Section 377 CrPC, not to the victim. The Court held the High Court had correctly relied on an earlier Supreme Court ruling (National Commission for Women v. State of Delhi) in rejecting the appeal as not maintainable.

Lesson Learnt

A crime victim (or their family) cannot personally appeal to a higher court merely because they feel the sentence given to the convict was too lenient: that right belongs only to the State/prosecution; the victim's own right of appeal is limited to cases of acquittal, conviction for a lesser offence, or inadequate compensation.

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

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