Victim Appeals Against Acquittal Can Be Summarily Dismissed If Victim Has No Prima Facie Arguable Case: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently held that a victim's appeal against acquittal under Section 413 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita can be summarily dismissed when there is no prima facie material to show that victim has an arguable case.The Division Bench of Dr. Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian observed that the provision for summary dismissal of appeals provided under Section 425 would also apply to the appeals under Section 413.The Bench made the observation while dismissing a victim's appeal, without admitting it or calling for the lower court records.The appellant was a victim/defacto complainant, who had alleged that the accused, a non-SCT/ST member, committed rape on her knowing her to belong to the SC/ST community. The trial court had acquitted the accused observing that the evidence of the victim was not believable and noting the delay in lodging the complaint. Thereafter, the victim challenged the acquittal before the High Court.When the matter came up for admission, the Court felt that the appeal had to be dismissed summarily after looking at the impugned judgment.The Division Bench acknowledged that the right of the victim to file an appeal against acquittal was a statutory one and that in ordinary circumstances, cases involving sexual offences would be admitted if, prima facie, there is an arguable case in favour of the victim.However, it also considered the other side, that of the acquitted accused and remarked:“After having secured an order of acquittal, if an appeal is admitted casually and notice is issued to the accused, such proceedings may hang as a 'Damocles' sword' over his head until the appeal is concluded.”The Court felt that in such cases, though a victim-centric approach is to be adopted, where there is not even prima facie materials to differ from the view already taken by the trial court while acquitting the accused, the appeal is liable to be summarily dismissed.It also opined that ordinarily, appeals against acquittals are not to be interfered with unless there is perverse, manifestly illegal or grossly illegal view expressed by the trial court.Since in the present case, the trial court had noted several contradictions in the victim's testimony, which formed the sole basis for the prosecution case, the Court felt that trial court's view was correct. “As there is already an order of acquittal, a prima facie presumption of innocence is available in favour of the accused…although the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita does not contain any specific provision for the summary dismissal of an appeal filed by a victim challenging an order of acquittal, the provision for summary dismissal of appeals under Section 425 BNSS will apply mutatis mutandis to the summary dismissal of an appeal filed by a victim under the proviso to Section 413 BNSS,” the Court remarked.Since it was found that there was not even a prima facie material to show that the victim had an arguable case, the Court felt it appropriate to summarily dismiss the case.Case No: CRA(V)No. 81 of 2025Case Title: XXX v. Gopalan K.T. and Anr.Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 10Counsel for the appellant/defacto complainant: Sherly Mol ThomasCounsel for the respondents: Sheeba Thomas – Public ProsecutorClick to Read/Download Judgment

Victim Appeals Against Acquittal Can Be Summarily Dismissed If Victim Has No Prima Facie Arguable Case: Kerala High Court

K. Salma Jennath

Tags