'Victim' Has No Right To File Appeal Under CrPC On Ground Of Inadequate Sentence Awarded To Accused: Patna High Court

Against an inadequate sentence, the only provision prescribed under Chapter XXIX is Section 377 which provides for filing an appeal by the State Government for enhancement of sentence, held the Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh and Justice Arvind Srivastava.

The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the father of an 8-year-old deceased minor (who was raped in a car and thereafter strangulated to death) under 372 CrpC seeking enhancement of sentence awarded to the accused by the trial court holding him guilty of sexually assaulting and killing his minor daughter.

Vide judgment dated 19^th October, 2020, the Court had convicted the respondent no. 2/accused for the offences punishable under Sections 363, 364, 366, 307, 376, 302, 201 of the IPC and 4(2) of the POCSO Act, the order as to sentence was passed on November 2, 2020.

The Trial Court had directed that all the sentences (which also included Imprisonment for life) shall run concurrently and the period of detention already undergone by the convict shall be set off against the period of imprisonment.

In these circumstances, the appellant, the father of the deceased girl filed the instant appeal challenging the order of sentence passed by the Trial Court seeking enhancement of sentence to the death penalty.

It was contended by the Counsel of the father that after ravishing her minor daughter and killing her, respondent no. 2 had dumped her body behind the residence of the District Magistrate and therefore the offence committed by him was heinous and brutal.

It was argued that aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances as calculated and diabolical cruelty had been inflicted on an innocent girl and hence, the Trial Court ought to have awarded death sentence to respondent no. 2 for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC.

Court's observations

Opining that the instant appeal was thoroughly misconceived, the Court observed that a reading of the proviso makes it clear that so far as the victim's right to appeal is concerned, the same can be invoked only under the following circumstances:-

• Acquittal of the accused;
• Conviction of the accused for a lessor offence; or,
• In case of imposition of inadequate compensation.

"The appellant, herein, has preferred the instant appeal under the proviso to Section 372 of the CrPC claiming himself to be a victim under Section 2(wa) of the CrPC. It is reiterated that a victim has no right to maintain an appeal under the proviso to Section 372 of the CrPC on the ground of inadequate sentence," concluded the Court while dismissing the appeal filed by the father of the 8-year-old victim.