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Pottayil Radha v. State of Kerala

Review Petition (Criminal) · 2021 INSC 849Decided 8 Dec 2021
Review Petition (Criminal) No. 407 of 2021
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Vineet Saran · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

In the underlying criminal appeal, the Supreme Court had earlier reduced the convict's substantive sentence, a reduction that neither the prosecution nor the complainant had challenged, while directing the convict to deposit Rs. 2,50,000 to compensate the complainant. The complainant, Pottayil Radha, who had been served notice but chose not to appear when that order was passed, later filed this review petition seeking to reopen that outcome.

Decision Breakdown

The Court rejected the request to have the review petition heard in open court and dismissed the review petition itself, finding nothing in the grounds raised that disclosed any error apparent on the face of the record: the limited ground on which review jurisdiction can be exercised.

Lesson Learnt

A review petition cannot be used to reargue a case on its merits; it succeeds only where there is a clear, self-evident mistake in the original order, and a party's mere disagreement with a sentencing or compensation outcome is not enough.

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

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