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Subhas Chandra Sarkar v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Special Leave Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1052Decided 22 Sept 2026
SLP (Crl.) No. 3418 of 2026
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

The petitioner's son, who suffered from depressive disorders, died by suicide while admitted in a hospital; the petitioner (father) alleged this was due to negligence of a doctor and a nurse and had an FIR registered under Section 304A read with Section 34 IPC (a bailable offence). A Judicial Magistrate acquitted the accused, and when the petitioner (as victim) tried to appeal that acquittal to the High Court, one judge admitted it but another, at the final hearing stage, held the appeal was not maintainable before the High Court and that it should instead go to the Sessions Court. The petitioner, arguing in person with amicus assistance, challenged this before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a coordinate Bench of the High Court was entitled to later find the appeal not maintainable even though another judge had earlier admitted it, since this was based on a statutory provision, not a re-opening of an already-decided controversy. Interpreting the proviso to Section 413 and Sections 415 and 419 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the Court explained that a victim's appeal against an acquittal must go to whichever court an appeal against a conviction by that same original court would go to, and since the Magistrate's conviction orders are appealable to the Sessions Court, a victim's appeal against this Magistrate's acquittal must also go to the Sessions Court, not the High Court. The Court therefore upheld the High Court's order and dismissed the SLP, but directed that if the petitioner files an appeal before the Sessions Court within one month, it must be admitted and heard on merits without treating it as delayed, since the delay was caused by the petitioner's bona fide pursuit of the wrong forum. It clarified it had not commented on the merits of the acquittal itself.

Lesson Learnt

When a victim wants to appeal an acquittal passed by a Magistrate, the correct forum is the same court where an appeal against that Magistrate's conviction order would lie (usually the Sessions Court, not the High Court). Filing in the wrong forum due to a genuine misunderstanding of law can still be excused from delay if corrected promptly.

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

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