NEW DELHI: Referring to provision of Section 372 of CrPC which was amended in 2009 on recommendation of Law Commission to allow a victim to file appeal, Supreme Court has held that a “victim” of an offence like in cheque bouncing cases has the right to challenge the order of acquittal of the accused under CrPC and corresponding Section 413 of BNSS.Differentiating between Sec 372 & Sec 378 (which allows a complainant to file appeal), a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Sharma said Section 378 circumcised the right to file an appeal which is not the case with Section 372.“The proviso to Sec 372 of CrPC was inserted in statute book with effect from 31.12.2009. The object and reason for such insertion must be realised and must be given its full effect to by a court. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we hold that the victim of an offence has the right to prefer an appeal under the proviso to Section 372 of CrPC, irrespective of whether he is a complainant or not. Even if the victim of an offence is a complainant, he can still proceed under the proviso to Section 372 and need not advert to sub-section (4) of Section 378 of CrPC, SC said victim of a crime must have an absolute right to prefer an appeal which cannot be circumscribed by any condition and the right of a victim of a crime must be placed on par with right of an accused who after being convicted has a right to file an appeal under Section 374 of CrPC. TNN
