S.14A SC/ST Act Overrides General Provisions Of Appeal Under CrPC: Gujarat High Court

Justice Nisha M. Thakore observed, “In light of the aforesaid legal position, it is held that the non-obstante clause appearing in Sub-section 1 of Section 14A of the Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 shall have an overriding effect on the general provisions of appeal as provided under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1908 in case of filing appeal against any judgement, sentence or order arising out of the said Act.”

“Hence, all these appeals arising out of offence alleged under the provisions of Atrocities Act, filed at the instance of the State or at the instance of the original-complainant are treated as appeals filed under Section 14A of the Atrocities Act,” Justice Thakore added.

The above ruling came in 13 connected matters whereby the lead matter in the group of matters was an application filed at the instance of the State, seeking condonation of delay filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act praying for condonation of delay of 142 days caused in filing appeal under Section 378 (1) of CRPC

Noticing the charge involved, the Court had called upon the Public Prosecutor to address one aspect of maintainability of the appeal itself, which is moved under Section 378(3) of Cr.P.C. Since, a similar issue was involved in the matters, where the learned advocates representing the original complainant/victim have moved this Court by filing appeal under Section 372 of Cr.P.C, all these matters were tagged and heard together on the limited aspect of maintainability of appeal.

The central issue before the Court in these appeals was “Whether appeal would be maintainable under Section 372 at the instance of the original complainant/victim and in the case of appeal at the instance of State under Section 378(1)(3) of the Code, or the appeal would lie under Section 14A of the Atrocities Act?”

The Court first examined Section 14A, noting that it was introduced through Act No. 1 of 2016, amending Section 14 of Chapter 4 of the Atrocities Act. The Court observed that Section 14A, which begins with a non-obstante clause, provides the exclusive remedy for filing appeals, overriding the provisions of appeal under the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the Court, any appeal against a sentence, judgment, or order (excluding interlocutory orders) passed by a Special Court or an exclusive Special Court to the High Court could only be entertained under Section 14A of the Act.

Regarding Section 372 of the Code, the Court emphasized that it clarifies that the Court cannot entertain an appeal from any judgment and order of a criminal Court except as provided under the Code or any other applicable law.

The Court agreed with the argument presented by the respondent-original accused (in Criminal Appeal No. 1057 of 2023). It held that the special provision of appeal under Section 14A of the Act would override the general provisions of appeal under the Code of Criminal Procedure, especially in light of the non-obstante clause in Section 14A.

The Court explained,“Also, on bare reading of Section 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with Section 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shows that the principle of prevalence and overriding effect of a special statute in question over and above the provisions of the Code is enshrined in said Section 5 of the Code.”

“Moreover, if one goes by Section 4 and 5 of the Code of the Code Criminal Procedure, by applying the rule of the harmonious construction of the aforesaid provisions of the Atrocities Act as well as the Code of Criminal Procedure goes to establish that the special enactment in the form of Atrocities Act has been enacted by the legislation conferring special jurisdiction or power with special form of procedure being prescribed, which in the present case is in the form of appeals prescribed under Section 14A including the appeals against the order of conviction /acquittal /lesser sentence/ compensation,” the Court further explained.

The Court noted that applications seeking condonation of delay were filed by both the original complainant and the State under Section 372 and Section 378(3) of the Code, respectively. However, since these appeals were considered to be filed under Section 14A of the Atrocities Act, the Court directed the registry to reexamine these applications for condonation of delay and referred the matters for consideration before the Coordinate Bench handling cases under Section 14A of the Atrocities Act, following the current roster notified by the Chief Justice on the administrative side.

Appearance: Mr. MITESH AMIN, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the Applicant(s) No. 1 for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3

LL Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 164

Case Title: State Of Gujarat Versus Sonu Mangliprasad Vishwakarma

Case No.: R/Criminal Misc.Application (For Condonation Of Delay) No. 16335 Of 2023