Karnataka High Court: John Michael Cunha J., while rejecting the present criminal revision petition, elaborated on scope and ambit of Section 397 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and further rejected the argument of the petitioner that the lower courts have erred in appreciating the evidence.
Brief Facts
The present Revision Petition is filed under Section 397 CrPC, read with Section 401 CrPC, praying to set aside the judgment/order of conviction dated 27-01-2018 passed in Criminal Case No. 52506 of 2013 and the judgment dated 12-08-2020 passed in Criminal application No. 2507 of 2018. Challenging the concurrent judgments and sentence for payment of Rs 10,00,000 rendered by the Courts below convicting the petitioner under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the petitioner prays for acquittal on the ground that the lower Courts have erred in appreciating the evidences placed on record in addition with according to the adequate opportunity of hearing to the petitioner/accused.
Issue
Whether the present petition under Section 397 CrPC maintainable?
Observation
The Court while redefining the scope and ambit of Section 397 noted,
“This Court in exercise of its power under Section 397CrPC cannot re-appreciate the evidence and arrive at a different conclusion, even if different view is possible from the evidence. The jurisdiction under Section 397 CrPC could be exercised only when the decision under challenge is grossly erroneous; non-compliance with the provisions of law; finding of fact affecting the decision is not based on evidence; non-consideration of the material evidence and that the lower court has exercised the discretion arbitrarily or perversely and acted in excess of its jurisdiction or abused its power resulting in failure of justice.”
The Court further said that no errors or illegality can be traced in the orders made by the lower court in the instant case. The argument made on the ground of inadequate hearing stands rejected as the records prove procedural compliance and stage of evidence.
Decision
Rejecting the present criminal revision petition at the admission stage itself, the Court found no reasons to interfere with the findings of the trial court, on both sentence and conviction.[K. Kuppuraj v. J. Thrilokamurthy, Crl. Revision petition No. 606 of 2020, decided on 05-10-2020]
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