A division Bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave a split verdict on whether a victim of crime needs to seek the High Courts permission to appeal against the acquittal of the accused. If decided that prior permission from the High Court is not required,the victim may get the power to contest an acquittal or a lesser punishment to an accused,who commits an offence against him/her,without depending on the state government that prosecutes the accused. However,if the High Courts sanction is required,the victim will have to undergo the scrutiny of the High Court which may or may not permit him to file an appeal. The court was hearing two separate cases. One of these pertains to an attack on lawyer Manohar Shetty,who was shot at by his younger brother Mohan at his Mazgaon office in 2008. Mohan was acquitted by the Sessions Court. Arguing for Manohar,senior counsel Shirish Gupte and Racheeta Dhuru argued that victim must not be left at the mercy of the state government to contest an acquittal in an offence against him,as the government does not file an appeal in every case of acquittal. In the other case,arguing for Nilesh Harkulkar,whose brother was assaulted and killed by a group of vendors after a fight,senior counsel Ashok Mundargi and Swapna Kode said that according to a proviso in Section 372 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC),the victim had an inherent right to appeal against an acquittal. While Justice VM Kanade held the victims right to appeal against an acquittal is absolute,Justice AM Thipsay observed that the legislation had not placed the victims right over that of the state government. He also said,in some cases,there may be more than one victim who may file several appeals and these appeals,therefore,cannot be entertained without the scrutiny of HC. The case will now be referred to the Chief Justice to be placed either before a third judge or a full bench bench for its decision.
