Case Title: R. Kalai Selvi v. Bheemappa
The Supreme Court ruled that the payment of a fine cannot be established as a prerequisite for hearing a revision petition under Section 397 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The short point in this appeal, against the order dated 15.01.2021, as passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Criminal Revision Petition, is as to whether the High Court was justified in providing that the deposit of fine amount shall be a condition precedent even for entertaining the criminal revision petition, preferred by the accused in terms of Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In this case, the offender was found guilty of violating Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and sentenced to a punishment of Rs.6,00,000/-. It was also established that if she did not pay the fine, she would be sentenced to simple jail for six months. A sum of Rs.5,90,000/- was directed to be paid to the complainant as compensation under Section 357 Cr.P.C., with the rest remitted to the State. The accused's appeal was dismissed by the Appellate Court.
While considering the accused's Revision Petition, the High Court stated that until the fine amount was deposited, the accused would not be entitled to press the criminal revision petition into service. It was decided that the criminal revision petition would not be heard unless the accused paid the fine.
"We clearly believe clearly that the High Court could not have deposited a fine amount as a condition precedent to hear the revision petition. As to what order is to be passed ultimately in the revision petition is a matter entirely different and that would depend on the examination of the matter in terms of the requirements of revisional jurisdiction but, in any case, depositing of the fine amount could not have been made a condition precedent to even hear of the revision petition so filed by the appellant." The bench said agreeing with the accused-contention appellants that the High Court was not justified in imposing a condition of fine pre-deposit.
While overturning the order, the bench stated that the High Court may assign a fair priority to the revision petition and make every effort to make a final decision on it as soon as possible.